If Drama Was Gold My Life Would Be Platinum
by MeganAlice
Summary: Imagine, Harry Potter has a cousin but the Dark Lord got to her first. Will she comply with what Voldermort wants from her? If she wants to win over the love of Draco Malfoy she feels she might have to.
1. Chapter 1

1.

"Wow..." Blaise Zabini stated staring out of a window though binoculars at the house next door. He and Draco Malfoy had been sent on somewhat of a mission where, while on their 4th summer break at Hogwarts, they had to, much to Draco's distaste, go live in a muggle environment and keep tabs on a very important girl to the wizarding world, and by that, Draco knew, his father actually meant that his young lady was extremely important to You-Know-Who. Although Blaise and Draco could not figure out why, as, from what they have seen, this girl isn't at all magical and is somewhat of a maid to her sister and parents, however, the boys where not actually certain on which girl, the one they had been watching or whom they've assumed to be her sister, is actually the important one, they assumed it was the one they have been watching because to be honest they found her more attractive, so they watched her as she was more appealing to. The boys do not know anything about this young woman, all they know is that she is important and that they must kidnap the girl, other details as her age, hair colour, and eye colour haven't been given however, the two boys do know this; her name is Vanessa Radcliff and she is a witch.  
>"What?" Draco hissed turning from the only other window, in the tiny, shabby studio apartment that the two boys had to be sharing, that wasn't aimed at the Radcliff's home. Draco glared over at his acquaintance, whom he'd come to call a friend, with a glass of whiskey in his hand, which he shouldn't be drinking as he's only just 15, as his blue icy eyes narrowed, he was in his own world of thoughts and didn't much appreciate being dragged out of it by Blaise Zabini. Blaise looked up from the telescope, that the two boys had been given to spy on this girl, which was so cleverly placed at the window nearest the Radcliff home but if anyone was to see the telescope they would assume the boys use it for night watching, another muggle thing that Draco didn't catch on to.<br>"Well?" Draco hissed at his friend who had been just staring at Draco from across the dirty, one room studio.  
>"Vanessa, she, urm, she doesn't look happy." Blaise stuttered Draco frowned at him<br>"What? Why?" He said as he ascended towards Blaise walking along the dirty, stained planked flooring that was so thin the boys could here the downstairs neighbours every move, although Draco doubted it was very pleasurable for them either, they probably heard every footstep as if it where an earth quake.  
>"Urm, well, she was in the living area with the family when they started speaking about something that got Vanessa irate so her and her father began to fight before he, urm, he hit her..." Blaise said pausing as he knew Draco was sensitive about that subject, but one glance from Draco allowed him to continue "And then she went into the kitchen and threw her bag on to the side." Blaise reported almost as if he was in the military and Draco was his commander, Draco let out a low growl as he stared at the house, he then lowered his body and looked into the telescope that his father had given them, it was magical as it allowed the boys to see though the homes walls clearly as if there was no wall there to begin with, and however far you magnified it the magical telescope would skip through rooms, like some kind of ghost. Draco stared into the telescope as he saw the young vibrant brunette once more she looked no older then Blaise and Draco but looked much too matured for her age. Blaise was correct, she was in the kitchen, she also looked to be having some kind of tantrum as she paced up and down the clean tiles of the kitchen, the cooks watched her as she screamed and talked to herself in anger, the Radcliff family where clearly quite rich, the home they where in was not actually their own but just one they have been having to stay in as they knew of the bounty of their daughter and decided it would probably be less suspicious if they lived in more of a suburban area rather then in a secluded area, like the Malfoy's home, for the time being. Draco's eyes followed the girls every move as she paced around the kitchen.<p>

* * *

><p>"ARGH!" I yelled out for what must have been the millionth time, I ran my hand though my hair again, I had done it so many times soon the cooks would be able to squeeze the hair out into a frying pan and cook bacon in it. I growled as I raised my hand to my stinging face, the cooks giving me a few pitiful looks as I paced in the kitchen, I sighed before walking out and into the small bathroom, I pulled my hair into a messy bun and stared at the red mark on my cheek, it wasn't the worst that silly man had done to me, but it hurt pretty badly, I growled again before leaving the blue tiled bathroom and heading into the kitchen once more.<br>"MAID!" I heard the evil voice of Mr. Radcliff call me the name that he had grown all too comfortable with calling me, he'd probably forgotten my real name. I growled in my head before stopping in my tracks and with a roll of my eyes I changed course and headed into the living area, I got there and a fake smile forced it's way on to my lips as I looked from Mrs. Radcliff to Mr. Radcliff, Mrs. Radcliff was slightly nicer to me however she has beaten me in the past, she had long blonde hair and brown eyes with brown eye brows that gave away her dyed locks easily, her lips where set in a small smile which, from all the surgery she'd had, now just looked like thin lines on the end of her face. Mr. Radcliff, however, had a dark tan; he was Asian and had angry brown eyes and dark eyebrows, his teeth where whitened every month though so when he smiled, which was rare, he looked like he should be in a toothpaste advert. However, him being Asian with, originally, dark brown, almost black, hair and her being an original brunette, always made me wonder on the reason as to why their child was blonde  
>"Glad to see you have finally calmed down dear." The old man sneered, I glowered at him mentally<br>"Yes, perhaps now we can speak rationally of this..." Mrs. Radcliff said, I just nodded silently  
>"Well dear, as I was saying, you will be carrying my daughters child" My smile disappeared and I had to mentally slap myself to stop from screaming out at them. "We will pick the strapping young man that will do the honours and after his and our young girls wedding..." The old fool drifted off looking over to his wife, after all a man should not have to speak of such things.<br>"He will impregnate you and after 9 long months we will have a beautiful bouncing baby boy." Mrs. Radcliff's comment confused me, I frowned over at her  
>"Sorry Mrs, but, how do you expect to know the gender?" I asked her, Mr. Radcliff scoffed causing my confused eyes to land on him<br>"Well we'll be paying for the procedure dear, there are people who can do that these days you know?" Mr Radcliff explained in a very degrading manner, I frowned but kicked myself into not complaining about it, I'd only receive another slap, I reluctantly nodded  
>"Good dear, now that it's settled you can leave... We have things to discuss, why don't you take some warm milk and a cookie up to Vanessa?" Mrs. Radcliff shooed me away. I nodded once more but as soon as I turned my back to them I rolled my eyes<br>_'How old is she? Three?' _I growled in my head as I walked into the kitchen.

* * *

><p>Draco and Blaise had been watching the entire scene as 'Vanessa' walked down the stairs into her room in the basement, as soon as she got down there and into the privacy of her own 'room', if you could call such things that, it was a small basement that had wooden floors and a small single bed with a few drawings on the wall and a stereo, she turned on the stereo and then pulled out a pad and pencil.<br>"Urgh, I wish we could hear what they had been talking about!" Draco growled standing from his position over the telescope and pacing around the room a little like he was thinking, he lifted his hand to his chin and drummed his fingers on to it as Blaise watched him.  
>"Draco!" The two boys heard a familiar growl of a voice making them both jump and freeze on spot.<br>"Father." Draco smiled turning towards Lucius Malfoy, the man was dressed completely in black with a cape over his shoulders and a cane in his gloved hand, his hair a white blonde colour, a lot like Draco's, pulled up loosely into a small bow and his eyes the same piercing blue colour as Draco's also.  
>"Do you have anything to report yet, about today?" Draco shook his head a little quickly hanging it in shame after<br>"She was hit by her father earlier after a row, but other then that, nothing." Lucius pulled a confused face that Draco easily read as him being mistaken  
>"Well tonight, will be the night." Draco's jaw dropped slightly<br>"But father, we, we arent even sure if this girl is the right one... We just assume this as she looks more like the Radcliff's then the other girl." Lucius shrugged  
>"Go get the one you think it is Draco, if it's the wrong girl we will just take her back and kidnap the other. Please think rationally boy these Radcliff's are not exactly intellectual enough to be able to think of a back up safe house!" He hissed, Draco head dropped again before he nodded "Well then I will be back when we will make our move. One more thing, your mother wanted to see you." Lucius informed Draco, but before the boy had a chance to react a slim vision of white blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes flew into the room grabbing Draco and hugging him tightly<br>"Oh Draco!" She called  
>"Mother... Please." Draco said trying to pull away from her almost vice like grip while hiding the glass of Whiskey behind his back, not wanting her to start on a rant about under age drinking.<br>"Oh I missed you dear. How have you been? I'm so happy that we will all be home and a happy family again after tonight." Narcissa Malfoy squealed to her only son as she leant down and kissed his cheek  
>"Yeah, I'm happy too mother." Draco nodded and then Narcissa smiled walking back to her husband.<br>"Tonight Draco, Zabini, we will go. We will kidnap Vanessa Radcliff."

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><p>I sighed as I rolled over in my small bed, I packed away my pad and pencil and pushed them under the single bed I had been placed with. I yawned and looked around my room; I turned off the stereo and just listened, I could hear the light noises of a police siren off somewhere in the city and the noise of the loud rain pelting down on to the suburban home and the wind gushed it around, I listened to the noises of the rain drops colliding with the building as I closed my eyes with a slight grin on my face the smashing of rain relaxing me and quietly sending me off to sleep.<br>I awoke, not to the bright noises of the birds outside the home singing, not even to the sound of my alarm going off and the man on the radio calling out good morning to me and fellow listeners. No. I didn't even make it though the night. I awoke to a loud scream, with my eyes still hazy and my body still half asleep I sat up in bed and looked around a bit, on further inspection I realised that it was in fact three in the morning, I sighed and frowned rubbing my eyes slightly, I then heard another terrifying scream and this made me sit on the edge of my bed, I looked to the ceiling of my basement room as I heard all sorts of moving going on above.  
>"VANESSA! THEY'RE HERE FOR HER! GO GET HER!" I heard Mr. Radcliff scream as I walked out of my base'room' I looked around to see a lot of the staff running around screaming while some were laying on the floor. Dead? Possibly, I frowned and walked out further into the entrance hall, the front door was wide open and the butler I know as Frank was lying on the floor in front of it. I frowned walking over to him and checking for a pulse, there was one. I quietly let out a sigh of relief as a few more staff members ran past screaming still, in fact all I could hear throughout the home was screams of terror and many voices yelling things, I didn't quite catch them but it sounded like they where yelling 'stupid' or something along those lines, I started to walk further into the home when I heard another yell from upstairs, I looked up the large stairs that took up the entrance hall to see Mr. Radcliff standing there yelling to someone, then his eyes landed on me, and he began to run down the stairs towards me<br>"Maid!" He called "Maid!" He called again; I rolled my eyes and walked over to him  
>"Yes?" I asked impatiently, then I saw it, one of the people the staff where running from, it was a boy, he looked no older then me, he had a stick that was lit up a little at the end, he ran into the entrance hall, he had dark brown hair and kind brown eyes that seemed to be filled with anger at the moment, he looked very charming, but I didn't have time to think about that as, before I knew it, I was being dragged into a room by Mr. Radcliff, he locked the door and started a panicky pace. I looked from the locked door to him<br>"Those people are here..." His throat caught but he shook it off "They are here to k-" He stopped and looked like he was thinking for a moment before continuing "take Vanessa... Please, you must, you must help us... Please? Pretend to be her, they will take you and that... that will give us more time to get Vanessa out of this mess." My jaw dropped, he wanted _me_ to give myself up to these people just for that spoilt bitch Vanessa? I scoffed  
>"I won't do that!" I squealed and then stormed out of the room, I walked down the stairs, I was just going to go to the cops, tell them what was happening, but before I could reach the door one of the cooks ran in front of me knocking me down<br>"OW! Rodriguez!" I screamed to the chef, he span and looked at me  
>"Sorry- S-Sorry!" He stuttered before helping me up, but before I even got the chance to get up he dropped my wrist and I fell back down<br>"OW! WH-" I was cut off by him screaming, I frowned and looked up at his face to see him staring towards the library pale with worry. I looked over to where his gaze was pointed to see three people, two of which where boys the other a man, one of the boys was the charming one I'd seen earlier, the other two had hoods up so no-one could see their faces, I frowned  
>"Get rid of the man." I heard someone bark from the other side of the entrance hall, my head span around so quick I nearly got whiplash and there I saw three other people coming from the dining area, all with their hoods up, I frowned and pulled myself up<br>"Look I'm sure we can all-"  
>"Stupefy!" Before I could even finish my attempt at reasoning with them the man who was with the two boys held up his stick thing and once he said that a red spark flew out of the end of the stick and at Rodriguez, he fell to the floor, my jaw dropped and I screamed<br>"Get her!" The man from the other side barked again, then the other man raised his stick at me, I let out a scream before running back to the stairs, I heard them all start to run at me but I was too quick and I ran to the second floor, I shot around a corner and then ducked into a cupboard that had flaps, I looked out to see all the people pass the cupboard and then them speaking of splitting up  
>"Maid?" I heard someone whisper at me, I shot round to see Vanessa, she frowned at me<br>"Vanessa!" I sighed in relief  
>"What are you still doing here? I thought that you-"<br>"Stupefy!" I heard someone growl from outside the cupboard and instantly me and Vanessa looked out, I saw a boy who was no older then me or Vanessa and he was standing with one of those sticks in his hand, he had just done that thing they've all been doing to another maid, Cassandra and she was lying on the floor a little away from him, then Vanessa's mother ran around the corner and towards the cupboard almost running into the blonde boy me and Vanessa both gasped then quickly covered our mouths  
>"Ah... The lady of the house." The boy growled with a snarl, I watched the two as his eyes burned into her face, I smirked,<br>_'He's pretty cute...'  
>'What are you thinking? He's here to take Vanessa...'<br>'Well that isn't __**that **__bad!'_  
>I was shaken out of my thoughts when the boy spoke up again.<br>"And where would you be keeping the beautiful Vanessa?" I glanced over to Vanessa and saw her blush and flick her hair, I just rolled my eyes,  
>"We have to do something Vanessa..." I whispered watching the boy to make sure he didn't hear us, she glared at me<br>"Yeah! You need to act like me so I have time to get out of this mess!"  
>"No! They'll kill me..."<br>"Please... Do you really think he'd be calling me beautiful if he was here to kill me?" I frowned, she had a point I nodded  
>"Okay, but that just might be him, what about the others?" She looked like she was thinking for a moment<br>"Look... My father has told me all about these people before that's why we moved down here, they've been after me for a while! Anyway, dad never said that they wanted to harm me, they just wanted me, and I don't know why... please maid you have to do this, for me?" I scoffed in my head, and then I heard Mrs. Radcliff say something  
>"You can't have my daughter! I won't let you and neither, neither will my husband!" The boy sneered<br>"Ahh, yes... Mr. Radcliff... What a..." The boy acted like he was thinking for a moment, the whole scene was so tense, Mrs. Radcliff was waiting for the boy to strike at any moment and the boy was waiting for her to do one wrong move so he could strike "Disgusting man!" He sneered, I snickered a little gaining myself a painful jab in the ribs from Vanessa, and I knew she would have done worse if it weren't for the fact we were crushed together.  
>"How dare you say that! My husband is, is a great man! You -"<br>"Blah, blah, blah. I'm bored!" The boy blurted "Goodnight Mrs. Radcliff." He hissed raising his stick.

"NO!" Vanessa called out making me jump; she then pushed on me causing us both to tumble out of the cupboard.  
>"Vanessa!" Mrs. Radcliff called<br>"So nice of you both to join us..." The boy said with a frown on his face, Vanessa got up and brushed herself off and then realised the position she was in  
>"Oh! Urm... This! This is Vanessa Radcliff!" She sad pulling me up, she jabbed me in the ribs again<br>"Ow! Urm, yeah, I'm Vanessa, take me! Don't kill my m-mother!" I said with a slight shudder before stepping towards the boy, he frowned and then I saw the other, charming looking, boy come out of a room behind the blonde boy, the blonde boy looked back at Mrs. Radcliff as if waiting for her refusal to my plea.  
>"No! Vanessa darling! Don't! Get away from him!" She yelled and then walked towards me all cautiously<br>"Don't worry mother... It'll all be over the sooner they have me..." I said distastefully, the other boy stared at us from behind the blonde one  
>"I... I don't know which one to take Zabini." I frowned as I looked at the blonde boy<br>"What do you mean? Take me! I'm Vanessa Radcliff!" I squealed  
>"I say that one Malfoy... She is only trying to save her parents after all." The 'Zabini' boy said pointing to me<br>"Look, we could sit here listening to which one of us your going to take or you could just take me and leave!" I squealed  
>"Maybe we should take both... You-Know-Who would know which ones lying." The boy named 'Malfoy' said; I stomped on his foot making him howl in pain, 'Zabini' laughed<br>"I like her! She has spunk!"  
>"WHY THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT?" He growled at me<br>"Oh, I'm sorry, I had to make sure you where actually in the room with me because from the way you were talking about me I was a million miles away!" I spat, he scowled at me.  
>"DRACO!" I heard someone growl from behind everyone, I span around to see a hooded man behind Mrs. Radcliff<br>"Stupefy!" He yelled hitting Mrs. Radcliff; I had to continue the act so I ran over to her  
>"Mother!" I squealed falling down next to her, the next thing I heard I didn't much enjoy.<br>"Stupefy!" And then all I saw was darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Hey guys, sorry there was no Author's note in the first story I'm new to this and I'm not entirely sure how to edit everything yet ha ha. Anyway, this is a new story, and trust me it's not like all the other 'oh my god Potter has a relative' type stories this one has a excellent twist to the end. I hope you enjoy it! As a token of good faith I've posted two in one night for you!**

2.

I woke up to find myself in a dark room with only one light that was shining on to me like a spot light, the sudden brightness blinded me slightly as I opened my eyes. I squinted almost to the extreme of closing my eyes again, but I kept them open as I surveyed the area, I tried to lift my head but as soon as I did I yelped in pain, they had me tied to some kind of bed, I couldn't see much as they had tied my hair to the same pole as they'd tied my hands to, my arms had been tied by the side of my head and I could feel an uncomfortable mattress underneath, I could feel that my waist also had rope tied around it and that my feet where tied at the bottom of this thing. I sighed, it was all a little bondage-esc for my liking, plus my wrists and head where throbbing, I glanced around at the ceiling trying to see more of it but because of the bright blinding light that was on my face my eyes couldn't adjust to the darkness around it. I growled and shut my eyes again with a sigh as I heard the noise of footsteps and then a door opening and then closing again. I jumped a bit at the noise of the door closing but when I heard the footsteps near me I put on my usual tough demeanour.  
>"Good to see you're finally up Miss. Radcliff." I heard someone hiss, I opened my mouth to correct them but then I started to remember my entire purpose of being here. I decided that it's properly better for myself to fake to be Vanessa and give the Radcliff's more time to get her out of things and for the kidnappers to then kill me later then tell them now and have them kill me this second then quickly get to Vanessa only to kill her to. Plus the more I stall them the more likely it is I might be able to find a way out. Although, from the looks of things, the chances of escape are very, very slim. So I sucked up and decided that from this moment and until I most likely die, I will be Vanessa Radcliff.<br>"It's not so good from where I'm... laying." I hissed, my voice was croaky and out of sync making me wonder if it had even been me to speak but I still did my best at sounding somewhat intimidating, the person let out a laugh.  
>"My boy was right, you do have a lively attitude on you don't you?" He hissed and I smirked<br>"I suppose you could say that... I do see it as a strength."  
>"Oh yes Vanessa, it's a strength, not many people get places without it." He agreed with me.<br>"Down to the point please sir? Why am I here? Why did you want to kidnap me?"  
>"That's strange, I recall that you and your family knew the answer to that one and that's why you moved away." He growled suspiciously, I then frowned but quickly remembered what Vanessa had told me in the wardrobe, about her knowing.<br>"I apologise sir. But I really do not know what you are talking about Mr...?" I swiftly tried to change the subject, the man just made a disgusted grunt  
>"Well we'll see what The Dark Lord has to think about that." He hissed and then I heard his footsteps leaving the room but just before he left I heard him stop and then mumble something that I didn't catch.<br>"What-?" But before I could finish I realised that the restraints had been removed and I was now quite free. I gasped and sat up to see the man's face but as my eyes adjusted to not staring into a bright white light I heard the door shut and then lock. I let out a low grumble before getting up, I quickly regretted it though as I felt all the blood rush around my body and the room suddenly seemed a lot darker then it already was as I started stumbling backwards slightly. I quickly regained my eyesight and balance as I held on to the head bar of the bed for support. I finally got a look around, it was a dark dirty place almost like a prison cell only all the walls where painted black. The only light that came into the cell, apart from the spotlight aimed at my bed, was through the cracks around the door and a small window in the door. I walked over to it and saw a dirt hallway almost as if I was underground, my face was lit up by the lamps that lit the hallway. I sighed fogging up the glass a little before turning back around for another inspection of the room. I panned the room realising that it was just a large empty space with a dirty double bed pushed into one corner- which lacked pillows and duvets. It didn't even have a sheet, just a mattress, with a lamp over it, there was a toilet and sink in the opposite corner. As I panned down from the right corner-with the toilet- something caught my eye that was on the wall next to me. I stared at it for a moment before walking across to it only to realise what my mind was telling me was true, there was a mirror in the cell, and not just an ordinary mirror, a one-way window mirror. I knew that from all the times I had been in a police station for questioning, someone was watching me. Unfortunately i also had to watch myself and what I could see wasn't a pretty sight, my hair was matted and my face was dirty. My maid uniform -which consisted of black trousers, a black shirt and a classic white apron around my waist- either torn or dirty, I let out a disgusted grunt and pulled at my hair. I sighed and rolled my eyes before thumping my fist into the mirror three times.  
>"HEY! What will you do if I'm hungry?" I growled into the mirror as I started to pace in front of it. Just then a note slipped under the door, I gasped and ran over to the door looking out the small window to see nobody, and I pouted a little before picking up the note "You will be served food at regular eating times, three meals a day." I read the note aloud to the mirror, after which I smirked "You should never let a <em><em>criminal<em>_know you're there." I grinned and then pouted "What if I need a shower?" I said and then looked at the crack at the bottom of the door to see a note slide under. I sped to the door but still saw nobody though the window as I picked up the note "You will not be staying long. Is there really need for such privileges?" I read, I read over the last part in my head again before squealing "Hey! Keeping clean is not a privilege! It's a requirement; even prisoners get to shower, even if it is with other people." I more whispered the last part soon enough another note slid through, I sighed and went to pick it up "You have a sink." Is all it said, I laughed at the bluntness of it "You really expect me to wash my entire body in a sink with you perverts watching?" I squealed staring at my own angry face in the mirror, but before anything even established in my mind I heard the door to the cell close and I wheeled round quickly looking at the person who had just walked in.  
>"Like you said, 'even prisoners get to shower, even if it is with other people.'" The boy hissed, he had a large black cloak on with the hood up I smirked.<br>"Ah, good point, however they actually get to __see__who they're showering with." I grinned and stepped towards him, he didn't do anything, he just kept his straight posture and faced towards me. So I lifted my hands up and went to pull his hood off but before I even had a chance to blink he grabbed my hands and held them where they where.  
>"Nice try." He whispered "We know all about your... reputation Vanessa." He scowled and then threw my hands down and walked out of the room, I sighed frowning as I walked over to the bed,<br>__'What do they mean by 'reputation'?'  
>'Well Vanessa has had a lot of guys in her past.'<br>'But they might mean some other kind of reputation? Like maybe a criminal record or something?'  
>'I have a criminal record so why are you worried about if Vanessa has one? It's not like she'll be able to kill me.'<br>'Still, if she does have one maybe that has something to do with why she would be kidnapped?'  
>'Maybe. But maybe they do mean her sexual reputation.'<em>_  
>Thoughts all ran through my mind as I laid back on the bed pulling my hand though my hair. I realised something and as soon as it came to me, I jumped up and ran over to the mirror again.<br>"Hey!" I said knocking on the window "What did you mean I'm not going to be here long? How long __will __I be here for?" I looked over to the door and soon enough a white piece of paper slipped though. I was quick to pick it up 'Only tonight, we will be taking you to The Dark Lord tomorrow.' I read the note in my head, I recalled the man who came in before saying something about a 'Dark Lord' I sighed and ran over to the bed jumping on it and letting out an aggravated scream into the mattress. I was in a strange place and didn't have a clue why I was there and now they where planning to take me to some person they called 'The Dark Lord' tomorrow, I found it all quite ridiculous, it sounded like something out of a movie, a horrible horror movie where a girl is taken in a big misunderstanding then she meets the dark lord who, depending on the happiness of the movie, she either escapes from or, he kills her, and the fact that I could even __think __the latter might happen, scared the crap out of me.

* * *

><p>Draco climbed back into the chair next to Blaise he had been sitting in just before as they both watched Vanessa, he watched her scream into her mattress punching it, and then she relaxed and just laid there, she looked to be thinking quite deeply, he sighed quietly. After a little while Vanessa fell to sleep face down on her mattress, Draco watched as her back rose up and down.<br>__'God she's beautiful'__  
>He thought, he was glad she wasn't a mud-blood, she was a pure blood so he could think things like that about her without feeling disgusted and scolding himself. However, he was yet to see her use magic, and if he had been put in the place she was in, he would have at least tried by now, he sighed, but she isn't him. She is clearly very different to Draco, she is so very muggle-like and that disgusted Draco,<br>_'If you're pure of blood why try to act like one of ___them__?' He thought to himself, just then Blaise yawned and let out a groan as he stretched his arms over his head.  
>"I'm loving the hotness of this bird, but do you think we could go to bed? You reckon Lucius would mind?" He asked standing from his chair. Draco shook his head.<br>"You go, I'm going to stay and make sure she doesn't try anything."  
>"She's asleep Malfoy. What could she do? Sleep-spells?" Blaise asked with a contradicting smirk, Draco rolled his eyes and looked up at him<br>"She could be faking. Or might wake up, then if she figures out no ones watching, which she will because she won't be able to go a second without talking to someone, then she might try an escape."  
>"-" Blaise opened his mouth to speak but Draco quickly cut him off<br>"Are you feeling __brave__tonight Zabini?" He growled standing up, Blaise lowered his head and shook it lightly before leaving the room, Draco rolled his eyes and scoffed as he sat back down. "Amateurs." He whispered to himself as he leant his head on his folded arms watching Vanessa again. Draco watched Vanessa intensely as she rolled on to her side still sleeping, he saw her face for the first time since she had fallen asleep to see that she was a beautiful sleeper, she had a slight pout and looked like she might have been one of those children who sucked their dummies or thumbs in their sleep, Draco smirked at the thought of Vanessa with a dummy as he looked down at his hands on the table, he let out a small sigh wiping the smirk from his face before looking back up at Vanessa, she had moved again, but now she'd curled up into a ball and had her arms wrapped around herself for warmth, Draco blinked before getting up, he threw his robes on and pulled up the hood before grabbing a blanket. He rushed into her room shutting the door after him, he turned back as he silently shut the door to make sure she didn't wake up and then quietly walked over to her, he finally got there and smiled at her peaceful face as he unfolded the blanket and gently placed it over her body, he stared at her for a moment before stroking her soft face and then leaving the room.

* * *

><p>I awoke to someone yelling outside my room, my eyes opened slightly and I looked over at the small window in the door. I wiped my eyes when I saw that no one was out there staring in at me I got up. I walked over to the window and looked around the hallway, the voices were very clear telling me the two people were close. I looked down the side and saw the boy from the other night 'Malfoy' arguing with an older man that <em>must <em>have been his father, the resemblance was uncanny, I watched the two bicker.  
>"Did you, or did you not, Draco, give her the blanket?" The older man hissed. I took my eyes off them to glance over to the bed to see that there was a blanket on there, I was so used to it I hadn't noticed before. I looked back out to see the 'Draco' boy look down in shame, I smiled for him.<br>"Yes father. I did. I am sorr-" But before he could even finish apologising his father raised his hands and slapped the boy around the face. I let out a loud gasp, he had hit the boy so hard that Draco's head had been forced to the side, tears came to my eyes, not out of sympathy or pity for Draco, but of anger at his father, it brought up all the stupid reasons that Mr. Radcliff had hit me. Draco's eyes moved up the door, I quickly gasped again but before he could see me I ducked and sat on the floor leant against the door silently crying into my knees.  
>"Go and get her." I heard the hiss of his fathers voice, I gasped and quickly wiped my face and got up running over to the bed and sitting on it waiting for Draco. I heard his fathers footsteps walk away until they where gone, I wiped my face again and then went over to the sink. I turned on the taps and went to put my hands under the water but then I noticed something, the water was <em><em>yellow <em>_it was so **dirty. I **squealed and jumped back, the door was thrown open, I looked over to see the worried face of the Draco boy, I sighed in relief and smiled slightly.  
>"Dirty water." I whispered a little pointing at the sink, he rolled his eyes and I looked down at him, he was wearing some black jeans and a black polo shirt. He walked over to the sink and I laughed "We going to a funeral or something?" I asked with another laugh, he just snarled and grabbed my wrist.<br>"Shut up and follow us." He ordered as we made it outside to find Blaise there. Right then I knew that this Draco boy blamed me for his father hitting him, I growled lowly and yanked my arm away from his hand causing him to spin around and point his silly __stick__in my face I just glared at him "And don't try and escape!" He hissed grabbing my wrist again, but I just pulled it away again.  
>"I'm following aren't I?" I snarled, he just returned the snarl before turning around and trudging onward with me and Blaise following. Blaise laughed and I glared at him with my arms crossed over my chest childishly.<br>"You're brave, I'll give you that. You must be one of the first people to actually stand up to Draco Malfoy." He said before walking on a little, I snarled glaring at Draco's back.  
><em><em>'Draco Malfoy? He doesn't sound that scary to me!'<em>__ I_ growled in my head before catching up with the two boys. The three of us finally came up to some stairs, I walked up and out of an old wooden door and into what looked like a kitchen, I gasped, all this time you've been in someone's __basement__?

"Don't be so shocked Radcliff, you should be used to living in a basement by now." Draco growled, I glared at the back of his stupid blonde head before I looked around a bit more in awe as I followed the two boys. The kitchen was very big, but then you saw __something__it was actually a __thing ___I literately had no other way of describing it and I definitely _ didn't know what on earth it was. It looked like an oversized rat, it had a large nose and large eyes, I thought it was just a statue or something until it started to walk towards me. I screamed causing Draco and Blaise to turn to me with large shocked eyes.  
>"What now?" Draco growled, I just stood there staring at the <em><em>thing <em>_with wide eyes I pointed at it with a shaky hand, it had now stopped and stared at me with wider eyes then looked from the boys back to me.  
>"I-I didn't do anything M-Master!" I screamed again and backed away from it.<br>"It- It- Sp- It can **_speak_****?**" I screamed as my eyes pulled away from it and to Draco and back again.  
>"It's a house elf... Of course it can speak. Have you never seen one before or something?" He growled and then rolled his eyes walking over to me "Come on!" He hissed grabbing my arm and pulling me away. We walked out of the kitchen and I quickly pulled my arm away from Draco's grip again. I looked around the home, it was large, like the Radcliff's usual home, my eyes scanned the marble floors and the large wooden walls then my gaze landed on Draco's father who glared at all of us.<br>"We need to use floo powder to get to The Lord. So I will be taking Miss. Radcliff with myself. To assure of her... Captivity." He said glaring at Draco whose head hung. His father then snatched my wrist and dragged me into the dining room where a beautiful white blonde haired woman was sitting nearest the fireplace, the door we had all just entered though was on the other side. She looked up at us, I assumed that she was Draco's mother as she also looked very much like him, plus she was smiling at his father as we all walked around to the fireplace.  
>"Oh is this her dear?" She asked her husband looking at me<br>"Yes." He said quickly.  
>"You could have at least let her have a shower first Lucius. Hello dear, I'm Narcissa Mal-"<br>"Narcissa!" Mr. Malfoy scolded his wife "Do not tell her your name!" He continued and then pushed me into the fireplace with him following closely behind.  
>"Ahh hey! What are you-" But before I could finish Mr. Malfoy threw something to the floor grabbed on to my shoulders and then yelled something out. We were both flying past strange objects that were going by so fast I couldn't even comprehend them, then suddenly I felt my feet hit the ground but my knees buckled and I fell into the dirty floor tumbling forwards slightly. Mr. Malfoy strode out of the fireplace like nothing had happened and grabbed my wrist pulling me sharply up again, I wiped my face.<br>"Must you _always_ make a scene _wherever_ we go!" Mr. Malfoy hissed at me, I just glared up at him when I saw a green flame flash from the corner of my eye; I span round to see Malfoy waltzing out of the fireplace. I looked away uninterested and around at my new surroundings. We where in a place that looked a lot like a cave, I frowned and glanced around to see there where quite a few people in the room, all wearing large black cloaks with their hoods up, there where about four different groups of these people no less then three to a group. A few had turned and looked at us three while a few had turned seen us and then looked away, some didn't even bother to look. On closer inspection I noticed that all of them had masks on that where in the form of some kind of skeleton, I stared at one of them until I heard the roar of a fire and then felt someone's hand wrap around my arm again dragging me from my thoughts. I looked over, expecting Lucius, only to find Draco; he gave me a side ways glare before continuing into a large stone door. Once we walked in I looked around, there was a **huge **extremely long fireplace covering the entire wall opposite us, a few sofas and a large leather sitting chair surrounding a table between us and the fire. The place was much longer off to each side but I couldn't see much else as I was standing in a kind of entrance cave part of the room when Lucius walked over to the large sitting chair and talked to the person sitting in it, I hadn't realised they where their until then.  
>"<em>Bring her to me...<em>" The man in the chair hissed, Lucius glanced up at me with an actual slight bit of **_worry_**on his face, seeing this I instantly began to feel nervous, my stomach flipped over and over again until it felt like it had completely knotted itself up as Lucius walked over to me and grabbed my arm, but I, being 'Miss. Keep-A-Brave-Face' pulled away from him and although I was literally nearly throwing my nervous guts up I walked forwards and over to the chair looking down at it.

I looked down at the man to see he wasn't a man at all but rather a snake like thing that just looking at scared me out of my wits. I even felt myself jump back a bit at the sight of the top of this things head, he had light pink and scaly skin. I took a breath in as his head raised to look at me, as soon as his face was in face viewing range I inspected him, he had two slits on his face as nostrils two barely viewable lines as lips and red cat like eyes. I shuddered when his snake like gaze landed on me, as soon as it did I felt horrible, something felt... Strange. The man, who started with, somewhat, of a kind smirk, as kind as smirks can get that is, but now, something had changed, he knew something, something that made him furious. He let out an angry hiss and then quickly stood up, a little too quickly in fact it looked more like he disappeared and reappeared in front of me he moved that fast. Of course now he was taller then me, he grabbed on to my collar and pulled me into the air slightly.  
>"<em>This is <em>**_not _**_Vanessa Radcilff..._" He hissed quietly as if only saying it to me, my face went pale and I stared at the ugly looking thing that was glaring back at me. I suddenly felt even more sick, so sick I actually gagged, in 'The Dark Lord's face...  
><em><em>'You gagged.'<br>'In the face.'  
>'Of 'The Dark Lord'.'<br>'Smart one.' ___I_ thought to myself as I tightly shut my eyes.  
>"Sorry my Liege?" Lucius mumbled bowing next to me and the scaly man.<br>"THIS IS NOT VANESSA RADCLIFF!" He yelled throwing me with great force backwards and into a wall, I yelled out in pain and opened my eyes lifting my hand to my back as I sat on the floor leant against the wall. I checked to make sure my back wasn't bleeding, luckily it wasn't I let out a sigh of relief and looked up, 'The Dark Lord' was now in Lucius' face.  
>"Wh-What do you mean My Liege?"<br>"THAT THING ISN'T RADCLIFF!" He shouted again making me wince.  
>"I am so sorry My Liege, we- we will go and get the other girl, their whe-where two her and the other one. They- they lead us to believe that she was the one. We will go now and get the other."<br>"No!" He shouted then continued in a light hiss "_They would have moved on now, it will take some time for us to find them again..._" He hissed  
>"Again I am sorry My Liege." Lucius said bowing, 'The Dark Lord' turned to me.<br>"_Not to worry Lucius... I will have my pleasure from killing this thing you have brought me, you may leave._" He said shooing his hand. I gasped slightly and then stood up using the wall for support, the 'Dark Lord' flew over to me very quickly and got so close to me he was in my face within seconds. "_Do you fear death my pretty?_" He hissed at me as he brushed his fingers against my cheek, my eyes welt up and darted over to the leaving Malfoy's "_Something wrong my-.._" The Lord cut himself off and stared at me wide eyed, I looked back at him and his usual evil snare turned into a sly smirk as he stepped away from me and turned towards the Malfoy's. "_What's this...?_" He hissed "_Do you not wish to know the girls name Lucius?_" As soon as The Lord said this Lucius became interested, he turned back around and walked back into the room, the Dark Lord wouldn't have even been interested in my name if he didn't have to find it out when reading my mind.  
>"Why My Liege? What is it?" He said finding himself slightly excited as he rushed to the Dark Lords side in front of me.<br>"_Why don't you tell them my sweet?_" The Dark Lord hissed, I frowned.  
><em>'<em>__My sweet?___'_  
>I thought to myself but quickly shook it off as my eyes darted between the two men.<br>"My... My name i-is Katrina." I stuttered, The Dark Lord rolled his eyes.  
>"<em>And your last name?<em>" He hissed, I could tell that he already knew my name, he was just taunting me and Mr. Malfoy, I got angry.  
>"You already know my name so why are you bothering with all this crap!" I yelled stepping towards him, he scowled at me and raised his hand slapping it around my face making me fall on to the floor leant against the wall again, tears stung my eyes but I shook them away.<br>"_Your last name girl!_" He hissed and I glared at him.  
>"Potter. Katrina Potter."<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

3.

"WHAT?" Draco yelled from the other side of the room "What did you just say?" I stared at them all like they where mad as Draco ran over towards where I was with a timid Blaise following shortly behind.  
>"K-Katrina Potter?" I questioned slightly worried of what Draco was about to do to me, The Dark Lord smirked though.<br>"_Lucius, control him._" He hissed, I, still laying on the floor, glared at them all before pulling myself up.  
>"Why is my name so important?"<br>"Tsk... Muggle" Lucius said and rolled his eyes. I narrowed my eyes at him in confusion.  
>"Muggle?" I asked and they all laughed I started to get really scared.<br>"_Who where your parents girl?_" The Dark Lord questioned me once more on things I could tell he already knew  
>"M-My carer at the orphanage told me their names where Michelle and Jason Potter."<br>"Jason Potter..." Lucius said looking over to The Lord "The Jason Potter whose brother is James Potter?" The Dark Lord shared the look with Lucius. "The one whom practically disowned James' family and lifestyle for the sake of his own life?" The Lord nodded  
>"<em>Yes, Jason Potter took it upon himself and his wife to put their daughter up for adoption after the attack against Harry's family, they did not want her to be hurt. However, when Harry was offered to them by Dumbledore they refused the child and shortly after changed their last name so Harry would not be able to find them.<em>" The Dark Lord smirked at me "_Ahh yes, I remember your father ___very___well. If I do recall he was a Death Eater not long after changing his name, again this he did for you,_" He turned his attention to me "_I knew of you and told him that I would have you killed if he did not help me. But, today in fact, I told him you would be safe and dropped him as a minion, however, given the new circumstances... I believe I may have to bring in your father again._" Everyone looked just as shocked as I felt, I didn't know of my parents and I didn't know of the sacrifices they had to make because of my aunt and uncle getting into trouble. What worried me more so is that I did not know what a Death Eater was and these strange things they were all talking about. The Lord pulled at my wrist snapping me from my thoughts and pulling me close to him, he stared at my structured face before running a cold scaled finger down my cheekbone, I stared at him worriedly

"_We can use the girl._" He finally hissed still staring at me  
>"How my Lord?" Lucius asked<br>"_You will get her into Hogwarts Lucius, with your... influences, and someone will inform Potter of his relative, she will come close to him and lure him here. To me. So I may kill him._" He hissed I glared at him and pulled away backing into the wall again.  
>"And who says I will do this murderous task for you?" I scowled<br>"_Aha, I knew you would ask that. You will do it or else I will kill you instead._"  
>"Go ahead! It's not like I have anything to live for anyway." I growled causing the Dark Lord the smirk<br>"_I thought you'd say that, bring them in!_" He called I glared at him until I heard a loud rumble of a door opening. I walked forwards so I was between Lucius and The Dark Lord and before I knew it there were two people standing in the hall with some of those men with masks next to them. One female one male, they both had dark brown hair the man had tanned skin that looked somewhat old and worn in it's wrinkles and a large scar down the side of his face, he had bright green eyes and wore a cloak that much matched that of the men standing beside him. While the woman had lightly tanned skin also but her face was bright and young, she had beautiful brown eyes and wore a white button up top and some black pants. I shot a glare to The Dark Lord who was standing next to me watching my expression.  
>"<em>These two people,<em>" He said pointing at them and moving in close to the side of my face "_They are your parents..._" He hissed I looked back at them and felt tears come to my eyes before I glared back at him.  
>"How can I trust you?" I growled, he smirked and looked back at them grabbing my wrist and dragging me over to them<br>"_Potter_-"  
>"Don't call us that! It's not our name!" The woman growled, The Dark Lord looked to her and smirked<br>"_These are your parents Katrina._" He hissed still staring at the woman, her gaze moved from him to me. The man was also looking at me however he had been staring at me in awe the entire time. My eyes scanned the two people The Dark Lord was proposing as my 'parents'. I wasn't mad at them for putting me up for adoption if they _were_** my** parents but more mad that if The Dark Lord was lying I could be falling into a trap, however, the two adults standing in front of me now where giving quite a show, they both stared at me with wide awe ridden eyes their jaws dropped and eyes wondered my face.  
>"K-Katrina? Hunny, is that really you?" I narrowed my eyes at the tearful woman she smiled and ran at me only to be grabbed back by her husband.<br>"Why is my daughter here Voldermort?" I stared at the man as he scowled at the creepy Voldermort, I defiantly had a lot of these peoples features. If they weren't my parents then the rebalance was uncanny, I looked over to the woman of the couple, our cheekbones were both defiant and so similar, she seemed to be staring at me in the same awe stuck way I was staring at her. The two of us looking almost sisterly as we examined each others features.  
>"<em>Katrina is here-<em>"  
>"Please, call me Miss. Potter." I cut Voldermort off, he glanced over at me with a look of death while the woman sniggered nudging her husband<br>"She's definitely your child Jason." She smiled, I smiled weakly before Jason smirked turning his attention back to Voldermort.  
>"Yes dear I knew that the minute I saw her." He said this made tears come to my eyes slightly before Voldermort speaking made me come back to the reality of the situation.<br>"_Katrina, this is what you have to live for, bring Potter to me and I will let you and your family live and you can all leave together._"  
>"And if I don't?"<br>"_Then I will kill them and make you watch before killing you._" I scowled at Voldermort, he gave me no choice, I was pretty convinced now that these were in face my parents and if they were I didn't want to be the cause of their untimely demise so soon after meeting them.  
>"Don't do it Katrina. Do not get yourself mixed up in this any more then you already have." Jason, or my father should I say? Warned me, I looked from him to my new found 'mother' who was shaking her delicate head furiously at my fathers comment, and then back to him.<br>"I'd rather not watch two people die in front of my eyes only to then be killed myself." I said dismissively, not wanting to show a shred of actual care for the couple in case it was all just a show, I needed to put my emotional barrier up. If they were willing to break it down then maybe I might put some trust into them no matter what my heart thought was best.  
>"So is that a yes?" Lucius spoke for the first time in a while, I had almost forgotten he and his goons were behind me. I looked around at them staring at each one for a good minute before turning back to Voldermort.<br>"Yes that is a yes." I said with a nod. I heard my parents beside me sigh and I started to feel slightly bad then I saw Voldermorts cruel scaled face smirking at me.  
>"T<em>ake them away.<em>" He spat to the masked men who grabbed on to my parents.  
>"What? Hey! No!" I said all at once following my parents a little as they were dragged away realising my disapproval the masked men stopped and turned to Voldermort.<br>"That wasn't part of the deal!" My father growled trying to pull from the masked man  
>"Yes, where will Katrina be staying if not with us?" My mother asked worriedly.<br>"Your daughter will be safe with I." Lucius said from directly behind me, I hadn't even heard him move let alone known he was in hand-on-shoulders distance. I jumped when his long finger nailed cold hands touched my shoulders.  
>"<em>Yes Potters, we do not want you trying to run again, like you did the last time, until her deed is done. Now take them away... All of them.<em>" Voldermort hissed the last bit he turned his attention more to Lucius in a hint to take me back again also, despite my fighting and disagreement the Malfoy's did manage to get me back to their manor.

* * *

><p>The Malfoy's and I, after leaving Blaise to take himself home from Voldermorts dungeons, got back to the manor. I was kicking and screaming while the two men dragged me around their home, at first Lucius was just going to throw me back in the cell in the basement until I had to go to Hogwarts. Luckily Narcissa, whom I had now found to be quite a lovely lady, convinced- more threatened- him to let me shower and have a bedroom that I can only get out of through another bedroom so that Draco could keep an eye on me and stay in that other bedroom. Lucius reluctantly agreed on the terms that Draco would have to watch the door like a hawk until he fell asleep and then wake up to even the slightest amount of noise. So I was dragged upstairs and then thrown into a large brown and white marble bathroom, it was beautiful, it had a large bath and separate shower with a toilet and sink on a different wall, there where also four large mirrors running along one wall. Draco then walked in; I glared at him as he leant on the marble wall examining his finger nails.<br>"What are you doing in here?" I growled he looked up at me with a large smirk  
>"Is that a serious question?" He asked I stared at him with a frown<br>"Urm... Yes? I _am _about to shower." I said in the a patronising tone pointing to the large shower.  
>"And I <em>am not <em>about to leave you in here alone... You could escape, or kill yourself." I stared at him like he was dumb for a moment before shaking my thoughts about throttling him away and opening my mouth to speak.  
>"If I <strong>wanted<strong> to die, why would I have passed up the chance with Voldermort?" I said using a contradicting tone with him; he glared at me again before shrugging "Get out." I pointed at the door "I want to have a shower."  
>"Can't." He replied, uninterested.<br>"Why not?"  
>"My fathers orders are to keep an eye on you at all times, including when you have to shower!"<br>"And pee?" Draco nodded, I let out a laugh assuming he was kidding as soon as I realised he was serious I sighed loudly running my dirty hand through my even dirtier hair. When I realised my hair was so tangled and knotted in muck that I wouldn't actually be able to get my hand through the rest of it I let out a squeal in frustration turning back to Draco "I want you out now, I don't want to shower in front of you!" I squealed pointing at the door again, he laughed and shook his head at me.  
>"Lets put it this way <em>Potter, <em>you either wash in here now with me or you wait for me to leave and get my father to come in here and be here instead?" I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out, I just stood there with my jaw wide staring at Draco before letting out an aggravated sigh which, from the force of it, came out with a little squeal as well, before pulling off my shirt and throwing it into Draco's face walking towards the shower stripping down as I did.

* * *

><p>I finally got washed and dry and already felt so much better, I sighed happily and fell back on to the bed I was now having to call mine. My new room was huge, it was a yellow and light orange in colour, the combination of the two making the room look almost like a sunset on a sandy beach by various light orange paintings and furniture scattered along the sandy yellowed walls. I let a small smile come across my lips before my eyes landed on the two <em>large <em>windows by the side of me and then the _even bigger _bed. After stopping and staring in awe at the largeness of everything I ran to the windows trying for them instantly, but they had been locked. So I picked up a chair and threw it at one of them, but rather then the loud noise of glass shattering and feet running there was a loud noise that sounded almost like an elastic band pinging and then the chair I had thrown at the window flew back into me before it had even hit the window. It knocked me to the floor with it on top of me, I let out an aggravated scream and banged my head on to the carpeted floor.  
>"It's been magically cursed." I heard a voice say from the door, I squealed in shock and shot my head up to see Draco standing in the doorway with the door slightly open, enough for his slim figure to stand in. He was about 15 feet away from me, the room was so very long. "That's a great look for you by the way." He said sarcastically staring at me lying beneath a chair. I scowled at him stumbling up murmuring a few curses in Draco's direction before putting the chair back behind the desk. I span round and jumped on the bed screaming into a bright pillow. "Also a perfect look for you," I heard his voice again, this time closer, I lifted my head from the pillow and saw him sitting on the end of the bed. I jumped back a little from shock of him moving so quick before sitting up properly and leaning against the head board on the bed with my legs crunched to my chest, I stared at Draco.<br>"Are you following me around to try and lead me into having a heart attack?" I asked suspiciously  
>"How did you guess?" Draco said jokingly, I suppressed a laugh and just smiled instead looking down to my knees "Want to know a bit more about magic? Seeing as you are an unknowing witch?" I looked up at him with a little shock.<br>"Will it be hard?" He laughed a little,  
>"Not from me no, I'll just teach you a little about it, when you get to Hogwarts? They'll be cramming it on you to try and catch you up to <em>my <em>level." He said narcissistic-ally, I rolled my eyes at him.  
>"Watch out you wont be able to fit your head through the door soon." I hissed<br>"Do you want me to tell you or not!" He spat, I reluctantly nodded my want to learn more then my want to annoy him. He pulled out his infamous _stick _and I quickly raised my arms up, he laughed "I wont hurt you this time. Here, let me teach you the three unforgivable curses, their always interesting to talk about and then you know what you're never allowed to do." He said walking away, he came back with a large book and a frog  
>"Urgh! Why have you got a frog?" I sneered at it.<br>"Just shut up and watch." Draco opened the large book to a highlighted page, he then set the frog down on the book and swung his wand "Imperio." He said, suddenly where ever Draco moved his stick the frog followed as if attached by something. I swung my hands between the frog and the stick only to find that nothing was there, this truly was _magic_.  
>"Why is the curse 'unforgivable'?" I asked seriously after me and Draco had just had a laugh over me having a fit when he made the frog go near me.<br>"Huh?" He asked clearly completely forgetting what he had told me.  
>"Earlier, you said these curses where unforgivable? Why is this one?"<br>"Oh, well, imagine what someone under the influence of this curse could be forced to do." This comment made me gasp, why would someone take control over someone else's body? Obviously to make them take the blame from all the evil deeds they wanted to do. The scariest part was that the more I thought about it, the more it appealed to me.

"Next is the Cruciatus curse." Draco put down the frog back on the book and looked at me "You might not like this." He said with a little wince before turning back to the frog, he waved his stick

"Crucio." He chanted, I looked at the frog, it toppled to the side and started to make awful noises like it was in terrible pain, I stared in awe.  
><em><em>'imagine the damage you could do with that!'<em>__ I_ thought to myself, Draco stopped the curse sooner then he stopped the other one, which upset me slightly, but I didn't show it. Clearly he thought I was _normal _and that I'd actually get mentally scarred by seeing that, I had seen worse.  
>"That one's unforgivable because it tortures people. You would be able to question someone and use that and they would spill about everything from being in so much pain." My eyes widened as Draco explained the curse to me; he then got up and started walking out the room. "The next curse is the killing curse," He said as he walked out the room. "Avada Kedavra is the actual words for it." He said coming back into the room with no book and no frog.<br>"You're not going to show me it?" I asked wide eyed.  
>"No, I was lucky not to be caught and hung for using he other two on the frog let alone the <em>killing curse<em>" I smiled and nodded  
>"Okay, I understand. Urm, what is this thing called anyway?" I asked pointing at the stick, Draco started to laugh.<br>"You muggle!" He laughed harder. "It's- It's called a wand." He said finally calming down a little.  
>"Okay... wow..." I breathed getting up and walking to the window looking out of it.<br>"You alright?" Draco asked, I think he was more freaked out by my calm reaction to the frog then the fact I didn't know what a wand was.  
>"Yeah it's just... This is a lot of stuff to take in, I mean a few days ago I was a maid working for a man who used to hit me and now I'm a witch, I know my parents, not only do I know them but by a simple word I could have them killed and me two and... Urgh! It's just a lot to deal with I guess." I sighed staring out at the darkening skies.<br>"I can't really relate **I've **been a pure blooded wizard all my life." Draco stated very selfishly, I rolled my eyes and let out a scoff of disgust.  
>"I'm going to <strong>my <strong>bed." I hissed mimicking him and climbing into my bed, Draco got the hint and left quickly, I just laid there with my head on the pillow staring into nothing. 

I rolled around in my bed for hours, but no matter what position I moved in to I couldn't sleep. I let out a sigh and punched my fists into the bed, I couldn't stop thinking about everything. I decided to see if I could leave the house without anyone hearing, I got up and pulled a silk robe over the, also silk, pyjamas Narcissa had given to me and head for the door. I put my hand to the cold handle and turned it, as soon as I felt that I could push it open without touching the door next to it I pushed it open a crack. I looked into the next room, it wasn't Draco's normal room but obviously while I was staying there he'd be sleeping in there. I had a view of the bed, the entire room was a lot similar to mine only it had black and blood red colours rather then yellow and oranges. I could see Draco with a very thin velvet sheet over him laying in the bed asleep, he wasn't wearing a shirt and was spread out along the large double bed. He hadn't woken up yet so I decided to go for it. I took a breath in and held it there as I opened the door, quietly shutting it behind me watching Draco as I did. I tip toed my way across the room to the other door keeping my eyes fixed on Draco's sleeping body. I watched his chest as it moved up and down in an almost hypnotic motion, just then I put my tip toed foot down on something, something _sharp__ I_ let out a gasp and almost squealed but I held back. I lifted my foot up to see a pin sticking out of it  
><em><em>'Dammit!'<em>_  
>I thought to myself as I held my breath and pulled it out, as I did I squeaked causing Draco to stir a little. My eyes shot over to his bed as I held my position watching him, he took a deep breath of air before rolling over. I let out an inward sigh of relief before throwing the pin to the side, I looked forward to the floor to check for more pins only to find <em>millions <em>of them, all set up facing up wards and around the door. My jaw dropped at how little they seemed to trust me and I started to push some out of the way with my feet so I could get to the door.  
>"What are you doing?" I heard from behind me, I gasped and shot my head around to Draco's bed to see him no longer there. I let off a sigh of failure and turned to look at him he stood in just boxers staring at me with his arms crossed over his unbelievably toned chest, I shook my thoughts away quickly before looking at his face with a smile.<br>"I couldn't sleep... I wanted a drink." I lied through my teeth, Draco stared at me suspiciously, before coming to some kind of decision in his head.  
>"Next time wake me up, if my father finds you out of that room with out me he'll throw us both in that dungeon again." Draco said walking towards the door coolly as he moved the pins with his wand, I opened my mouth to speak as he left the room, but I quickly shook it off and followed as he led you down to the kitchen. One of those scary looking house elves got me a glass of milk and Draco took me back to our rooms, he didn't want his father to know we had been awake.<br>"I swear sometimes it feels more like I'm living in Azkaban then a home." My look of confusion informed Draco that I had no idea what he meant, he sniggered slightly "It's like a wizard prison."  
>"Ohh!" I laughed knowingly "I know how that feels!" I said as the two of us walked into his room, he stared at me with wide eyes.<br>"You mean... You've been to prison before!" I laughed at his shock and nodded  
>"Yeah, unfortunately I have."<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

4.

****Flash Back.****  
>Ten years going from orphanage to orphanage praying the next couple that would walk in would take me but never did was hard on a girl; especially me. I went from hating my parents and wishing for their deaths to hating all the couples who didn't choose me to be their child and cursing at them when they left with someone else, to some of the worst experiences of my life, my tenth birthday...<br>_"Happy birthday dumb arse! Cut 'em good 'ight?" the boy I used to call my one love said grossly with a gap for a smile, he'd lost most of his teeth in a bar fight. He had handed me drugs, cocaine to be exact, and a lot of it. Me and my ___'friends' ___from the orphanage had been doing drugs for a year now. To celebrate they decided to steal some money off of two, rich, American tourists and buy as many drugs as possible with it. This just happened to be on the same day as my birthday also thus landing me where I was, behind some cheap old market store in an alleyway with some fire in a barrel as our only light source and my friends either surrounding the barrel or staring at me as you cut the white powder into decently sized lines. Yeah, that was my birthday present, not the actual drugs, but getting to be the one to cut it up into lines for everyone. I pushed the last few crumbs over and turned around to my dirty faced and unclean clothed friends and smiled at them. I fell back so I was last in line, I didn't actually like drugs that much and preferred not to get the chance to have them. One by one they all sniffed a line, my 'boyfriend' being first, he finished up then started to head over to me with a wide smile. That's when I heard it, the worst noise any druggie orphan could hear, a police siren... A ___close ___police siren, we all froze and my eyes shot to where I had heard it, there it was, a police car had pulled up without us even noticing. A policeman was in the middle of getting out while the other had already got out and held his gun over the top of his open door pointed at us all  
>"Nobody move or I <em>__will ___shoot!" The man yelled at us, the other policeman however was coming closer to the coke by the second, Billie, my 'boyfriend', leant down to me  
>"We're off, they can't get us all, there's over 20 of us 'ere!" He whispered to me "Get the drugs." He demanded me, just as he said this him and about 5 of his other male friends started running. Thus setting off all of the children, they all scattered, I, however, being the good girlfriend I was ran for the drugs, I got a hold of them and then went to run but my arm was caught, I screamed before feeling the rush of cold metal hit my wrists<br>"Miss, you are under arrest you have the right to..." I stopped listening after that, I'd heard it all before when I'd once refused to leave Billie when he got taken to the station. I looked around and saw that the cops had back up cars scattered around and a few of the orphans had been caught. That night I went into jail, for suspicion of drug use, I plead not guilty and denied it all. In fact I blamed most of it on Billie but obviously I'm not the best at lying as the judge gave me two years, however he said that after the first year I would be paroled and if I passed I would be let out on parole. After a long terrible fighting year, I was let out, however, the strangest thing that happened was on my way to the parole meeting.  
>"Miss. Potter, you will have to be on your best behaviour today, I know you have had a few scraps with some of the prisoners in there but the parole officers are willing to look past that which is a brilliant opportunity for you to milk it for all its worth." My posh executive lawyer explained as his phone began to ring, I never understood how I got such an expensive great lawyer but he just turned up saying that he was being paid to be my lawyer and if I ever asked anything about it he would just go off of the subject. My lawyer is one of those people whom if they go off subject I got so wrapped up in what he'd changed the subject to that I wouldn't remember to bug them about it after. "Yes, yes okay, okay. I'm just inside now; I'll be right out in a second!" Mr. Hunter, my posh lawyer, explained into the small phone he held in his hand<br>"Stay here Katrina... I'll be back in a moment, this man will have to stay with you, terribly sorry, another, urm, another client is out in the parking lot." He explained before disappearing around the corner, I was fed up of this, I just wanted to get out and go back to your orphanage. I didn't want to have to wait any longer however the large blue shirted security guard standing next to me didn't seem to have the same opinion as he stood a little closer to me and let out a grunt. I sneered up at the largely grotesque man as I wished someone would open a secret door in the wall behind him and knock him out so I could leave, but however much I wished the smooth wall never changed. I narrowed my eyes at the man wishing so hard that he would just disappear. He was the only one between me and my way out, I didn't want to go to my parole meeting. I'd rather not risk the chance of having my hopes destroyed and having to go back in that disgusting place these people call a child's prison. I shut my eyes tight and, with a large frown on my face, I wished that the silly guard would disappear and it would be all over the news instead of a missing prisoner. I wished he would suddenly go insane and start running around the halls pretending to be a beautiful fairy. I_**_ just wished I could leave! _****_**Kaboom**_**__**!**____ My___ eyes shot open as I heard the loud ground shaking noise, I looked around, only to see that the guard was no longer around, I frowned  
><em>__'Is this really happening?'___  
>I thought to myself scanning the area just then something caught my eye they darted to the ground, and there it was, a passed out security guard. My jaw dropped as I stared at the man,<br>___'My, my wish came true!'___  
>I thought to myself just then I heard a door around the corner shut, I gasped and looked around before running into an opposite direction and out of the building. I was welcomed back to my orphanage like a hero, I told everyone that I got out on parole and they believed me. From that night on, I hadn't touched drugs, I stayed in the orphanage for another year before the Radcliff's found me and took me home. I thought my luck was finally changing and advised people not to go on to drugs, that was until I realised what the Radcliff's <em>__really ___wanted of me._

****Present Day.****

"so... You're a criminal?" Draco said, I laughed  
>"Well no, because there was like 1% chance of me not being let out of parole plus its been 3 years since my sentence ended so no I'm not... Not really..."<br>"But technically?"  
>"Why are you getting so wound up over this? It's not like I killed someone, I went to jail for drug use not murder, and I don't even do drugs any more." He was irritating me; he had even backed off a little from me like I had a disease. This boy is so prissy. I rolled my eyes. "Geez Draco What do you think I'm going to do? Kill you!" I said with a laugh and stepping towards him slightly, he backed off and gave me a scared look, my jaw dropped<br>"Maybe." He said still staring at me  
>"What? Ha-ha! You've got to be kidding me!" He didn't reply "Draco I went to prison for <em>Drugs <em>not **murder!**" I squealed, but he still just stared at me, I scoffed "Your father would probably beat me to killing you anyway!" I said spitefully under my breath scowling at Draco, his face changed and now he glared at me.  
>"What was that?"<br>"I said that your dad would probably **beat **you to death before I could even lay a hand on you!" I growled at him, he glared at me with pure hatred in his spiteful stare  
>"Get out." He hissed at me, my jaw dropped slightly and my look softened<br>"Okay Draco, I'm, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to offend you! I've been beaten before!-"  
>"Get out!" He demanded pointing to my room<br>"No! I won't because I know what you're going though! It's tough Draco I was beaten by Mr. Radcliff I know exactly how you feel-"  
>"No you don't Potter! You don't know how it feels! How could you possibly know?"<br>I cut him off "We'll let's just say that is drama where gold... I'd be richer then you!" I laughed trying to lighten the mood, his look softened slightly but he stayed mad.  
>"Get out of my room before I call security!" He yelled at me shutting me up, but I didn't move, until he pushed me towards my door. I span around to object back but as soon as I opened my mouth his hand shot into the air pointing at my door. My faced dropped and I nodded slightly before leaving the room.<p>

* * *

><p>I woke up the next morning worried. I was too scared to leave my room in case Draco pounced on me and killed me with his wand, or in a worse case he might have told his parents about me being in prison and they might all decide its in their better judgement to kill me. So I decided to stay in my room, I looked around the room, there where a few framed pictures on one of the dressers. Intrigued I decided to look at them on closer inspection of one of the photos I noticed that it was Mrs. Malfoy and two other woman, being the nosey girl I am I pulled the photo from the frame and turned it around, as in the Radcliff home you knew that Mrs. Radcliff would always write on the backs of the photos who it was. However I found something different, I found a note written on the back<br>_'Three sisters together again eh?  
>Such a lovely photo of you Narcissa.<br>I hope to see you again soon.  
>Love, B. Lestrange'<em>  
>I gasped after reading the note, was Narcissa having an affair? It certainly sounded that way. I read over the note again before jumping at the sound of a knock at the door.<br>"Potter!" I heard Draco call to me, I gasped and dropped the frame and photograph by accident, luckily the frame didn't break "Potter!" Draco yelled again getting impatient, I fell on to my knees and picked up the frame trying to put the photo back in as quick as possible.  
>"Ur.. Urm, ye-yes, yes I'm here." I said struggling to push the flimsy photo paper into the frame.<br>"Well come here then, it's time for you to eat, you have a long day today... Are you listening to me Potter?" I heard Draco go for the door handle and I shot up quickly putting the picture back on the dresser and turning towards the door, Draco came through and stared at me suspiciously  
>"Yes, I was listening... What do you mean '<em>I <em>have a long day'?" I said, walking towards him "What have I got to do?" He hesitated for a moment eyeing where I was just standing suspiciously before looking at me  
>"Come on." He mumbled before walking out of the room.<br>"Do I not get an explanation now?" I asked as the two of us walked down the last few steps, he just gave me a side glance before opening the large doors that led to the dining hall.  
>"Got her father." He stated as the two of us walked in, the large table was all set up for a breakfast for four at one end of the table, Mr and Mrs Malfoy sat next to each other on one side of the table already eating.<br>"Good, now both of you come and sit." Mr Malfoy ordered, I sighed and sat down. I was never really one to eat much and today I had even less of an appetite I just looked at the food set out in front of me like it had insulted me. While Draco grabbed a large amount of it and piled it on to his plate. Mrs Malfoy glanced at me placing a small cut slice of pancake into her mouth, she ate it with elegance before swallowing and sipping her orange juice. Still staring at me while Mr Malfoy stared into a news paper that I had never seen before every now and again taking a bite of his food or sipping his coffee.  
>"Katrina dear, why aren't you eating?" I glanced at Mrs Malfoy again.<br>"I'm not hungry, thank you though, it looks all very delicious."  
>Mrs Malfoy gave her husband a look, he obviously sensed this because as soon as she did he looked over to her with a sigh and lowered his paper. "Please eat Miss Potter, we have a long day ahead and I do not feel up to making any stops." He said, I rolled my eyes unwilling to argue over a silly thing like eating and grabbed a muffin, pulling a small piece off the top of it and putting it in my mouth with a patriotic smile to Mr Malfoy and then leaving the rest of the muffin on my plate. I looked at Mr and Mrs Malfoy to see them go back to what they were doing.<br>"Why do I have a long day?" I finally broke the silence.  
>"We need to get you into Hogwarts, the final date has passed but I have my ways. Then we will be going into Diagon Alley where we will buy you supplies for your studies. After all you will have to catch up on 4 years of work."<br>"Also you will need to buy some new clothes and a nice new dress to go to our ball in." Mrs Malfoy cut in  
>"What?" I almost yelled<br>"She's coming to our ball?" Mr Malfoy said almost as shocked as me.  
>"Well yes dear! It would be awful if any of our guests wandered into the wrong room and found a girl in there! Besides it will give her a chance to meet some of the... Better wizard families of Hogwarts, as she will have to be spending most of her time around that boy and his half blood friends." Mr Malfoy sighed<br>"You are right dear. In which case I assume you and Draco will also be joining us on our trip to Diagon alley as he needs to get his suit for the ball also." Draco sighed "Be grateful you will even be making an appearance boy!" His father spat, instantly Draco sat up straight and smiled, well as best as he can smile.  
>"Aw, dear, I would so love it if Draco could have a date this year." Mrs Malfoy hinted, as soon as the words left her slim mouth I knew what she was getting at.<br>"In that case Draco you will be coming with Katrina to the ball, and not another word of it from either of you." My jaw dropped as the two adults put their heads down and went back to what they were doing thinking they were going to have the last say in the matter, but boy were they wrong. I took a breath in to start my rant and just as I did Draco grabbed my wrist and pulled me out of my seat.  
>"Ow, hey!" I whined at him, hearing all the commotion his parents looked up at the two of us, he glared at me before looking back at his parents.<br>"We'll go get ready now then father, thank you." He nodded before trying to drag me out by my wrist. I didn't want to move so I just stood there like my feet had been glued to the floor, finally he gave me a hard tug and I stumbled slightly knocking the table causing the quiet room to fill with loud embarrassing cluttering of glasses before he finally got me out of the room.

"Ouch!" I hissed at him as he let go of my wrist, I was quick to nurse it. "What was all that about?" I growled as soon as the two of us got to the top of the stairs.  
>"You were about to get us both in trouble by complaining about the party."<br>"Yes, I was, because that is just _rude _they can't just decide what we're going to wear and who we're going to go with! And even if we wanted to go! I mean they just _assumed _that I'd like something like that! It's terrible!"  
>"They didn't assume you'd like something like it they want you to like it so they're going to make you."<br>"Oh and you're alright with the fact that they've just forced you to go to some fancy pants party with a girl you hardly know who just last week was a slave for some other rich family plus is related to a boy you clearly hate?" I said all at once storming into his room.  
>"Well there's not much else we can-" I didn't even listen to what he said, I just threw myself on to his bed sitting up with my arms crossed and cut him off<br>"I mean for all they know a guy like you wanted to bring his girlfriend, because obviously you've got one, and they've now just forced some stranger into your lap! I mean don't you think it's just terrible?" I said facing forwards allowing things to dwell in my mind. Draco had came and sat next to me while I was talking, he stared at me for a few moments before talking.  
>"Yeah, it's awful, but at the end of the day, you're going to have to deal with it. Now you better go get ready." He mumbled quietly, he was clearly thinking about things too. I decided not to bother him with any more of my ramblings and let him get to his thoughts peacefully so I nodded before walking out of the room.<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

5.

**AN: I've decided to put out two chapters in one day today as I did promise I'd have the fourth out yesterday and then didn't manage too. Plus the fourth was a little boring ha ha! Hope you enjoy :) Oh and thank you for all the reviews and all the favourites. It means a lot to me! :)**

After leaving Draco to himself and walking into the room that had been provided to me I realised that I didn't have any clothing I'd been wearing Mrs. Malfoy's silk pyjama's since I got out of the shower the night before. I was about to spin back around and go into Draco's room to ask if they had anything I could wear but I decided to try the wardrobe first. I walked over to the big doors of the wardrobe and opened them, my vision filled with clothes, my jaw slipped open at the amount of clothing there was, I realised that it was all Mrs. Malfoy's clothes, and this wasn't even her room. She must have even more clothing in her room. My eyes skimmed across the many dress and tops there were, I smirked slightly and pulled one out, a ruby dress that had caught my eye almost instantly. I checked the tag to see the size, she was only one size bigger then me, I dropped the tag and smiled holding the dress to my body.  
><em>'Dare I?...'<em>  
>I asked myself I looked at it again, I then held it up to myself and looked into the mirror that was on the inside of the wardrobe door. While doing so I realised that a outfit hung on the door, it was a top and jeans I pulled it off the door the read the note that was stuck to them.<br>'Clothes for Miss. Potter.' Clearly one of those small creatures that do the house work had written it, I held up the dress once more, it did look like I would look wonderful in it. There was a knock at the door.

"Katrina! You ready we're leaving in like 5 minutes!" I heard Draco yell.  
><em>'<em>__Shit.'__  
>I thought then looked back at the dress.<br>__'Later.'__  
>With that I quickly put it back and pulled on my clothes, they fit well, the top was a bit low cut for my taste but there wasn't much I could do about it. I glanced at myself in the mirror, I looked quite good, it was a nice change from the maids uniform I was used to.<p>

"Nice top." Draco said looking away from me, I looked at him; he was wearing a black polo shirt that was obviously a designer brand and had some dark jeans on.

"Thanks" I said with a frown, "You too."

"Come on." He said leading me out of his room.

"Are you two ready?" Mrs. Malfoy said walking gracefully down the stairs, her husband behind her. I glanced at the two, he was wearing a black suit with a white tie making his hair shimmer more then it normally would and Mrs. Malfoy was in a long black dress, though she was pulling on some large robes over it. As she got to the door, and next to me and Draco she smiled and nodded slightly.

"Let's go dear.." Mr. Malfoy said and with that the three of them headed into the dining area rather then out the front door confusing me, I stood at the door like a lemon. Draco looked back at me with a furrowed brow, upon seeing my shocked look he walked back and grabbed my wrist.

"We're using Floo Power." He mumbled into my ear as he pulled me into the dining room.

"Oh.." I nodded pretending like I knew what that meant, then I realised, when I got into the dining room and I saw Mrs. Malfoy climbing into the fire place.

__'Oh! That weird ash stuff... It's obviously what they use in Magical places... like cars!'__  
>I informed myself I was still finding it difficult to swallow the fact that I was part of 'magic' like the stuff in the fairy tales and in the movies. I let my feet lead me around the table and to the fireplace as I lost myself in my thoughts. I soon broke out of the thought train when Mr. Malfoy mentioned my name.<p>

"... And you can wait here with Miss. Potter and show her how to use the Floo network when it's clear, she will be going to the Ministry as well as I." He walked into the fireplace with the ash stuff.  
><em><em>'Did he call it a <em>_**_network_**__? Like computers?___'_  
>I thought quietly to myself then Mr. Malfoy added to his remarks from before "And <em>do <em>keep an eye on her Draco." With that he threw the powder down "Ministry Of Magic!" He called and the green flames engulfed him.

"Okay," Draco said turning to me and pulling me toward the fire place.

"How come I didn't go with him this time?"

"My dad said it'll be better if you start to use some magic rather then sitting on the sidelines."

I nodded "So why are you still here?"

"We can't leave you _alone _you'd run off." He said as though I was stupid. "There's no time for your talk..." He said "Take some of this." He held out an open vial of ash at me, I wearily took some and held it in my hand. "Now, when I say, throw it to the floor and yell 'Ministry Of Magic.' You need to be _clear P_otter or else something could go wrong. My dad will be waiting for you on the other side."

I smiled "Nice to know you all trust me so much!" I said scrunching my nose, Draco gave me a soft nod.

"See you in Diagon Alley Potter."

I frowned but I assumed that this was his way of telling me to get going so I threw the powder on the floor "Ministry Of Magic!" I yelled clearly, then the green flames engulfed me and before my eyes Draco's figure left and suddenly I was at a new fire place and there, replacing Draco's face, came his fathers.

"Come along... We're on a schedule here." He spat dragging me from the fire place, I soon became awe struck as I walked into the large hall that was this 'Ministry Of Magic' place. The walls and floors were all tiled a puke green and the ceiling were off into the highest of skies, but the thing that amazed me most was the beautiful water fountain in the middle of the place, it was enormous and golden. It was so beautiful, there were four figures on the fountain spouting water, one was a man holding a wand next to him a woman also holding a wand. Below them opposite the woman was a large figure that seemed to be half man half horse he was holding a bow and arrow that had water coming out of it. Then even lower then this creature was two other creatures standing beside another, a small large eyed one, it was one of those slavish things I'd seen cooking in the Malfoy's manor, it's large ears were the source of water from that statue, the other was a gruesome looking thing that almost ruined the entire beauty of it. The thing was as short as the other creature but ugly and aggressive one, while the slave creature seemed to be looking up to the to humans in respect and warmth this one looked up almost in envy. I had walked over to the fountain, away from Mr. Malfoy; he seemed to be too distracted talking to what looked like a security guard. I looked around the fountain to see children throwing coins into it and making a wish like I used to do down wells. My eyes fell to the water to see the millions of coins shining up at me from the shallow floor of the pool. I sat on the small wall that surrounded the fountain and looked around sneakily, no-one was paying me any attention, my rebellious poor orphan side came out in me so I stuck my hand into the water and pulled out one of the golden coins, I had to look at it. It was so exotic and new to me. I stared at the small piece of gold that lay in my palm, it wasn't like any form of money I had seen before, it was large and chunky and looked as though it had been chopped up by a very clumsy woodsman. Suddenly while staring at the coin it gleamed red and began burning my hand, I winced and threw the coin back into the water looking at my slightly scolded hand.

"Katrina!" I heard Mr. Malfoy hiss, I looked over at him, moving my hand swiftly into my pocket. "Come here!" I ran over to him and as soon as I was near him he walked away into a golden lift. I followed him in and smiled at a few of the other people that were on the lift and just as the doors were shutting a man came running into the lift, he had red hair and a bright smile.

"Sorry.." He mumbled to people as he pushed his way on to the crowded lift I stared at him, his clothes were slightly ragged and worn. He was standing next to Mr. Malfoy the two of them were just behind me, but I was close enough to Mr. Malfoy for it to be clear that I was with him.

"Malfoy." The red haired man said making me look over to him and Mr. Malfoy.

"Weasley." Mr. Malfoy said with venom.

"Who's this? A _friend _of yours Malfoy?" The man said with a slightly cocky tone to his voice, I looked ahead sniggering slightly. This clearly pleased the man as soon after he tapped me on the shoulder and held out a hand to me "Arthur Weasley, pleased to meet you." He said, I smiled and took his hand.

"Hello Arthur, lovely to meet you I'm Ka-"

"She's a friend of Draco's." Mr. Malfoy cut me off pushing me to the other side of him so he was between me and Mr. Weasley.

"Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office" A light woman's voice said as the lift came to a stop, the shutters opened and Arthur stepped forwards.

"Lovely to meet you." Was all he said before leaving, I nodded and went to say 'you too' but decided against it from the look I was receiving off Mr. Malfoy. Soon after I arrived at a new stop and Mr. Malfoy dragged me from the lift before the name of the floor was even called.

"Come along, they are probably already waiting for us!"  
><em><em>'They? <em>_**_Us_**__?'__  
>I thought as Mr. Malfoy dragged me into a room. The room was long and had a large table in the middle of it, many men were sitting around the table all in similar suits to Mr. Malfoy.<p>

"I apologise gentlemen, I forgot to take into account the fact that it would take Miss. Potter an hour to get ready." The men let out light chuckles.  
><em><em>'What? I was ready <em>_**_before _**__him!'__  
>I growled in my head as me and Mr. Malfoy stood in front of the many men, I then realised that on the other far side of the table sat a man higher then the others, he was clothed in some fancy robes and wore a hat, he was clearly of some importance.<p>

"Mr. Malfoy, we know why you have called this meeting so please, explain why you believe this girl should be allowed to Hogwarts." The man with the hat said.

"Of course Minister..."  
><em><em>'Minister? Oh gosh! These must be the school people, like the school board back home! They're probably deciding my fate! I wish I'd worn that dress now!'<em>__  
><em>__'Concentrate woman! Mr. Malfoy is discussing your future with these men and all you can think about is a silly dress!'  
>'You're right!... But it was a nice dress...'<em>_  
>"So I believe that there it is a right for Miss. Potter to decide for herself if she wishes to go into Hogwarts, she may be late but at least she's willing to work harder to make up for it. It would also just be rude behaviour if we did not give her the chance to meet her own cousin; her famous cousin." Mr. Malfoy ended his rambling and the room broke into murmurs.<p>

"And you feel this way too Miss. Potter?" The minister said, suddenly all eyes were on me, my throat cracked and my palms grew sweaty. I felt like a deer caught in head lights, my eyes widened and I let out a throat clearing cough.

"Urm,"  
><em><em>'Well actually I'm just being pushed into doing this by this guy called Lord Voldermort and his lackey here to kill the most famous boy in magic who also happens to be my maybe cousin!'<br>'Maybe I should just say that? Spill it all? Kill myself and my maybe parents probably only to have the boy I'm trying to save killed in the end anyway?'__  
>Right then was when I made my decision "Yes..." I decided to ruin an innocent boy-and my maybe cousin's- life then and there "Yes, I agree completely with Mr. Malfoy, I cannot wait to meet my cousin; please give me the chance to." The murmurs began again and this time they went on for what felt like forever. Finally the minister sat up with a solemn look on his face.<p>

"Mr. Malfoy, Miss. Potter..." He looked between the two of us "I always say... It's better late then never! Miss. Potter; welcome to Hogwarts." I smiled brightly and even whispered a small 'yes'.

"Draco dear, go into the robes shop and pick out a nice suit for the ball! One you'll like! We'll go meet your father when you've picked it out and then get you fitted for it okay?"

"Yes mother." Draco said walking into the robes shop in Diagon Alley, the whole experience is still so amazing to Draco and he's used to magic he couldn't imagine what it must be like for a muggle brought up witch like Katrina Potter. He was still in such shock that she is a _Potter_. It's pretty shocking that she's always been a Potter and yet has never known what kind of power that could bring her; and that Potter didn't and _still doesn't _know that he has a muggle born cousin, that's just embarrassing. He looked at the racks of clothing but nothing seemed to jump out at Malfoy it was all pretty uninteresting to him, he was used to being pampered, but then he heard a voice he recognised a voice that _wasn't _used to being pampered.

"So we're agreed, this blazer with these trousers?" Harry Potter said to his blood traitor chums the three Weasley brothers.

"I think that blazer looks disgusting with those trousers... so I suppose they'd suit a friend of mud-bloods fine." Draco spat venom, oh how much he _wished _Katrina were here so he could show her off, maybe even hint their secret.

"Get out of here Malfoy." Ron Weasley was the first to speak to Draco, Draco stared at the four boys.

"What are you doing in here Saint Potty?" Draco growled walking towards them, he was disgusted that he was shopping in the same place as him.

"Early shopping you could say." Potter hissed "Why are you here Malfoy? School doesn't start for a good few weeks."

"I'm shopping for a ball, whom I happen to be going to with a very beautiful young lady." Draco started pretending to be interested in the suits near the four.

"Why are you bothering us Malfoy?"

"Yeah, just bog off!" The twins spoke in their annoying ending-each-others-sentences way.

"Come on guys, lets go look over here" Harry said pulling an angry looking Ron away.

"Fine Pot-head, but I would have thought that, to a boy like you, family would come before friends." Malfoy said with a smirk, he saw Potter turn back towards him.

"What? What are you talking about!" Malfoy looked up and saw his mother outside the shop.

"Oh nothing Scar-head, lets just say you're in for a surprise! Must dash..." And with that Draco turned his back on the four boys and started to walk out the store, on his way out he heard.

"Just ignore him Harry, the guys off his rocker!" Ron said.

"Yeah... Maybe." Came the voice of the infamous Harry Potter, about to be taken down by his own blood. Malfoy smirked to himself as he left the shop.

I was being dragged through a strange back street of some kind, the entire street was filled with people and places but I didn't get to see any of them as I rushed to catch up with Mr. Malfoy. The two of us had used Floo Powder to get to this place and now it was all rushing past my eyes. Mr. Malfoy luckily came to a stop outside a shop that looked like an ordinary coffee shop but things were levitating in the window Mr. Malfoy walked in with me in tow.

"Lucius!" Mrs. Malfoy greeted her husband as he walked in, when we got inside the shop I realised that it was no average coffee shop. The place was huge and all mahogany and reds, the carpets were red and the tables mahogany, Draco and Mrs. Malfoy already had got a table so Mr. Malfoy walked over to them. I followed looking around at the place, astounded. The drinks were taking themselves to the customers and people were just walking past them like it was nothing, I realised that Mr. Malfoy had stopped and I quickly sat down sitting opposite Mrs. Malfoy and next to Draco. I gave him a light smile he returned with a wicked smirk making me wonder what he'd been up to.

"Did you get it? Is she in?" Mrs. Malfoy pried instantly.

"Yes, yes, of course! She's starting Hogwarts in the next couple of weeks, we've been given her list of books and she will be taking extra night classes with various teachers to catch up on the work she's missed for so long, Snape has also been informed of the plan."

"Oh! Brilliant!" Mrs. Malfoy said excitedly, even Malfoy gave me a sheepish smile of congratulations.

"But Narcissa look at this list..." Mr Malfoy pulled out two pieces of folded up paper from his pocket, Mrs. Malfoy opened it and her eyes skimmed down the long list.

"Well," Mrs. Malfoy smiled "You are becoming quite the expense!" She laughed.

"But it is all worth it for the Potter boy." Mr. Malfoy said with a near smile on his face, I was so shocked to see him happy that I nearly fell off my chair. "We also bumped into that Weasley."

"Which one?" Mrs. Malfoy laughed cruelly.

"Arthur... He was extremely nosey to who Miss. Potter was, she nearly gave him her name, didn't you dear?" Mr. Malfoy said patriotically to me.

"I didn't realise I wasn't allowed to speak to people." I spat dully, in the corner of my eye I saw Draco smirk at my sharp tongue.

"You're allowed to speak to them, just give them the surname 'Radcliff' until you start school and Potter knows of you." Mrs. Malfoy explained.

I nodded reluctantly, holding in a shudder at having to resort to calling myself after that name.

Finally Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy had left to go buy mine and Draco's new books. Me and Draco had been left in a dress shop were the two of us were to pick out matching outfits to wear to the ball. I sighed and walked into the store and into the dress section, Malfoy however had ran off as soon as his parents were out of sight. He'd ran into the back of the shop, he seemed to be looking for something, I just assumed he had already found a suit he wanted and went on looking through the dresses.

"Dammit." I heard him curse.

"What's wrong Draco? Someone brought the suit you wanted?" I asked in a generally sincere voice.

"No Potter, don't mock me." He spat back.

"I wasn't." I said looking at a beautiful turquoise dress "How do you feel about turquoise?" Draco came around the corner pulling a face like someone had stuck an old fish beneath his nose "No turquoise!" I nodded and carried on going down the isle. "What was it that you were looking for then?"

Draco smirked "Earlier, I was in here and I found Potter with his mud-blood friends."

"His what friends?"

"Mud-bloods, their muggle born witches or witches whose blood has been dirtied by Muggle breeding with a witch." Draco explained with his disgusted sneer back on his face.

I blinked "Like me?"

"You're different..." he said pulling out a dress

"How?"

"You didn't know you were a pure blood witch being raised by muggles." He said then held up the dress as though it was on me "Plus you've got pure blooded parents." I frowned at him for a moment before pulling the dress off of him and putting it back on the rack

"Deep blues make me look fat." I said he nodded taking in the pointer. "So anyway, you bumped into him..."

"Nothing really he just disgusts me so much, just thinking about him and his stupid mud-blood friends makes my skin crawl!" Draco spat.

"What about black?" I asked pulling out a pretty black dress.

"Do you want me to look like a spitting image of my father?"

"Good point." I said placing the dress back and continuing down the rack. "So... Skin crawling, Potter and friends?"

"Well I kind of hinted a few things to him about you and that's all really, I was looking for him cause I wanted to show you off."

I laughed "What am I a trophy?"

"Practically." He said sincerely making me blush slightly.

"What about green?" He said picking out a dark green dress with black flowers on the chest.

"It's beautiful! You're okay with green yeah?"

"Green's perfect." Malfoy nodded.

"Okay, well I think we'd better have a choice of two, just in case so I'm going to go look for another dress, you can come with me then go find two suits to match?"

"Sure." We carried on walking down the rack, I found a few dress I liked but Draco didn't.

"So, I was thinking.."

"That's never a good thing Draco." I laughed, he glared at me

"Ha. Ha." He looked away then back at me

"What were you thinking Draco?"

"Well, err, you know I hate Potter right?"

"Yeah.." I said pulling out a daring blood red dress and looking at it.

"Well, I was thinking as you're going to be calling yourself Radcliff to people anyway-"

I shuddered at the thought "Regrettably yes."

"That maybe, instead of calling you Potter I could call you Radcliff as well?"

"How'd you feel about Red?" The two of us spoke at the same time; it took me a moment to put together what he said.

"Reds, okay, sure.." He said glancing at the dress then back at my face, he saw the anger in it and froze.

"What? You want to call me Radcliff?" I hissed, he nodded suavely and I realised that what ever my answer he was going to call me it anyway. "Sure call me that despicable name, but I'm not guaranteeing you'll get an answer." I growled "Go find your suits." And with that he walked off I sighed aggressively and stormed into the dressing area, it was three small compartments with red curtains pulled across them, I walked into one and then heard Draco get into the next minutes later. I tried the green dress on first.

"Which first?" I heard Draco yell to me, I didn't want to answer but I didn't want him coming out in red either.

"Green." I spat quickly as I pulled the zip on the side of my dress up and looked at myself in the small mirror. The dress looked wonderful, I walked out of the compartment and looked at myself in a bigger mirror to get a proper look. Draco walked out moments later with a black blazer with a green collar, black trousers, white shirt and green tie on, he looked very handsome. He looked at me.

"You look very dashing Draco!" I said with a smile forgetting that I was mad at him.

"Don't I just?" He said pulling at his collar slightly; I then turned to the mirror linking my arm into Draco's

"And we match wonderfully." I said, he let go of my arm and looked me up and down. I smiled and turned to look in the mirror as he continued to inspect me "Obviously I won't have the bra straps showing on the night because I won't be wearing one" I laughed putting my hands over my showing bra straps in a way to hide them, then I noticed Draco staring at my face, I looked at him through the mirror. "Something wrong Draco?"

"You won't be wearing a bra?" He said with a smirk, I rolled my eyes and walked back into my compartment I heard Draco also go back into his. I quickly got changed into the red dress; this one had a corset style to it so I walked outside and waited for Draco to change so he could do it up for me.

"Could you do me up?" I asked as soon as he walked out.

"Woah, err, okay..." He said wearily pulling at the strings like they were a foreign object

"It's like shoe laces Draco."

"Oh." He said then started to tie them up, I let out a few yelps of pain but in the end it was alright. I stood up straight and looked in the mirror at myself, I looked quite pretty but not as exquisite as I did in the green dress. I looked at Draco and he looked the spitting image of his mother, he truly looked as though he had a bad smell under his nose.

"What's wrong now Draco?" I asked him through the mirror

"I hate it..." He growled looking at himself

"What?" I asked; shocked

"The suit!" He said turning to me.

"Why?" I asked turning to him.

"Well to be honest Radcliff, I look like a vampire!" He said then turned back to the mirror, the anger boiled up inside me again.  
><em><em>'How dare he call me that? And right now! Right to my face like that! Who does he think he is!'<em>_  
>I was burning holes into the side of Draco's head as he looked at himself.<p>

"Oh... Well..." I spat angrily "I _love _this dress!" I lied, I didn't really I just wanted to start a fight

"What?" He growled in shock

"Yeah, I love this dress, I prefer it much more over the green one! So we're just going to have to go like this or not go at all!"

"What? Radcliff, are you serious!" He growled, he then grabbed my arm and linked it into his "We look like we're only ready to come out after dark!" He growled, I pulled myself from his grasp and turned back to him.

"Well I like this one and want this one! So we're just going to have to go in different outfits and not match and look like idiots in front of all your rich friends!" I spat.

"Fine!" He yelled and walked back into his compartment, I stayed outside the compartment with crossed arms, and moments later he came out in his green suit and looked into the mirror.

"Look! Look at us! We look ridiculous!" He yelled I ignored him. "I don't know why you prefer this stupid dress! You looked much better in the other one!"

"Oh, you just liked that dress because you know I won't be wearing a bra under it!" I spat venom suddenly Narcissa Malfoy walked into the shop and appeared in the opening to the changing area.

"Hello dears!" She said walking down the stairs and over to the two of us.

"Hi." I growled, her eyes landed on the two of us and she did not look impressed.

"What are you wearing? I said matching outfits! These don't match at all!" She fussed.

"Radcliff here prefers the red dress and I prefer the green suit." Draco said, I rolled my eyes.

"Oh! Well that can't do, let me see the green dress Katrina! Go get into it." She said, I rolled my eyes and walked into the compartment knowing that Mrs. Malfoy was going to agree with her perfect little boy.


	6. Chapter 6

6.

"You see, aren't you glad we went out today Katrina?" Mrs. Malfoy smiled to me from across the dinner table before she put a slim piece of chicken into her mouth with her fork I rolled my eyes. I had been right, Malfoy got his way, I was going in the green dress I was actually kind of pleased that he got his way the red dress didn't do much for me but I was still mad because I had to look at his smug face when his mother agreed to buy it and I had to look at that damn smug face every time he called me by that cursed name _'Radcliff' _even thinking it made me shiver. Draco calling me that name only reminded me of the trip to the dress store. Although the dress store hadn't been the worse news, once we had left the store I had found out that while Mr. Malfoy's idea of going to buy me and Draco our correct school books had been exactly that Mrs. Malfoy's idea of going to buy the two of us books was instead going to buy me some new clothes. Now I wouldn't have minded if it hadn't been for the fact that now everything I put on made me look daringly similar to her. She had also brought me _"correct evening wear." _which consisted only of long dresses that I had to wear every night for dinner, Narcissa sitting across the table from me each night with almost a replica of what I was wearing on her. What I found in my bedroom must have been Narcissa's 'brought on random impulse' outfits because the clothing in there was beautiful while what I had seen of my clothing so far had been bland and almost distasteful, the neck line almost going down to my belly button! ... Okay, slight exaggeration, but they were exceedingly low cut.  
>"Katrina! Are you not going to answer Narcissa?" Mr Malfoy growled clicking in front of my face.<br>"I apologise, yes I'm glad we went out." I said through gritted teeth.  
>"Well that's good, I'm glad we went out too, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to buy you that beautiful top we saw, did you see her top darling? The silver one..." Narcissa went on like that to her husband as I tuned her out, discreetly tugging up the ever lowering neck line of the black sparkly dress Narcissa had insisted I wear. I looked to my side at Draco, almost begging him for help with my eyes, he only smirked before going back to his large meal.<br>_'It's not like he needs all that... You know I think he's getting pretty fat.' _I thought spitefully to myself  
><em>'Fat? <em>_**FAT? **__the boys thinner then a rake! Besides you've only known him for a few days what gives you the right to say how he's 'getting'?'_

I hadn't realised how quick a week could go until living in the Malfoy Manor, I suspected it went by so fast because all I seemed to do all day is be trapped in the Manor with Draco and walk around it, I loved looking around that Manor it was so big I felt like I found a new room everyday. My little adventures around the Manor didn't go to badly around the Malfoy's either, they actually insisted I did on some days. Narcissa said that it would be better that way, it would show I know my way around the place and hopefully no-one would realise I've only just came into the house. Of course the Malfoy's being so for it did make me want to rebel against it for a little while, but I got over that when I realised they had a swimming pool with hot tub. I spent more of my time in there then I did anywhere else in the home. I had just popped into the hot tub for the first time this morning and was relaxing as the bubbles gently massaged my skin and the noise of them drowned out any noises from else where in the house. Unfortunately the noises didn't drown out the sound of Draco getting in beside me. I felt him climb into the pool and opened one eye to check it was him, not that anyone else was in the house expect those slave things and if one of them got in there with me, I would probably die. I saw Draco's blonde locks and sighed with relief the thought of one of those slave things getting in with me had dwelt in my mind and got I quite worried up until then. I leant back again and just as I started to relax the bubbles stopped and I sighed and looked to my side.  
>"What's wrong now Draco?" I asked moving my arm up on to the side of the tub and leaning against it so I faced him. He gave me a light smirk, and that's when I realised that he had his oh-so lovely chest out again. My eyes fell down and stared at his chest, he seemed too distracted with the paper he was holding to even notice me getting a quick look at his perfect body anyway. I bit on my lower lip slightly and smiled as my eyes looked up and down his chest. I then saw him look up at me and my eyes moved to his, obviously he caught this because he had a smirk on his face.<br>"Like what you see?" He asked, I blushed terribly and looked into the water only for his smirk to widen and glance back at the paper. "In my home I mean?" He said, I glanced at him suspiciously for a second before nodding.  
>"Yeah, it's beautiful." I answered honestly, he nodded.<br>"Right, and you think that you've seen every room there is to see now yeah?" He asked, I nodded with a frown.  
>"Yeah, why? What's this about?" I asked curiously, Draco glanced at me for a second, I couldn't tell if it was a look of shock or a patronising glare as he moved his eyes back to the paper too quickly. But then he looked back at me again as he spoke.<br>"Ur, the ball? It's tonight and-" He started but I cut him off with a gasp as I grabbed his wrist tightly making him stare at me like I was mad.  
>"The balls tonight? Jeez, that really snuck up on me! When does it start?" I asked seemingly all at once and it seemed the Draco couldn't help but crack a smile at my ramblings, but he looked back down and the smile fell, almost as if he didn't want me to see it.<br>"I think it starts at six." He said, I looked at my watch, it was just hitting twelve so I was fine for time. I'd go start getting ready at about half four and I'd be ready for six. I smiled back up at Draco.  
>"Sorry, carry on." I said nodding at him, he nodded and looked at the paper.<br>"Okay, well my parents wanted me to make sure you were ready for the ball, so they made a list of every room in the house and asked me to check off all the ones you know." He informed me, I nodded my mouth dropping as though I inwardly said 'oh' then a smile popped to my face, I was in a very good mood today and didn't really know why.  
>"I feel like I'm in some kind of quiz!" I giggled Draco hid another smile before starting the list.<br>"Okay, so lets start with the obvious ones, Dining Room." I nodded. "Check. The pool. Double Check." He said with a smirk. A few minutes later and the two of us had got on to the rooms that I'd only really been in once or twice they were the rooms that either crept me out or bored me. One of them was the 'museum' room as Draco called it. There was a bunch of crappy old magical things that were apparently historical. I hated the room, it was dark and dusty, it looked like it hadn't been used in years, Draco even told me that something happened in there once and so now the House Elves refuse to go in there and only clean it in a big group once a month, but Draco never found out what happened.  
>"Really? But what if it was something scary?" I whispered, he laughed and shook his head.<br>"It's nothing really. I think it's just really them being over sceptical because most of the artefacts in there aren't exactly... Ministry approved." Draco informed me, I gave him a slightly suspicious glance but didn't really dwell on it.

The pair of us finished up and I decided to go up and start getting ready and soon enough Narcissa and Lucius were home ready and calling up for me to hurry up. Draco was outside his bedroom door waiting for me, the reason it was taking so long is because I still couldn't entirely believe that I had to wear that dress, sure it was gorgeous but still it means I lost a fight against Draco. I sighed and stepped out of my room then through Dracos and then out his door, he was stood beside me smirking, I saw him glance at my chest. I knew it's because he knew I wasn't wearing a bra. I rolled my eyes at him and walked past him.  
>"Coming Draco?" I hissed as I wandered past him. He followed swiftly behind me following me as I walked down the stairs.<br>"You look nice Radcliffe." He said, I smiled knowing he couldn't see it but quickly dropped it as I looked at him.  
>"Thank you Draco." I said as I glanced into his eyes for no longer then a second before I looked back forwards to see his parents looking up at us from the entrance hall. Narcissa looked so proud, a pride that made me feel slightly ashamed of myself. Lucius just looked like his usual self, and as Draco predicted he was wearing a fully black suit and Narcissa a black dress that matched. Lucius looked at his wife when me and Draco reached the bottom of the stairs, almost in a look of 'can I speak yet or do you still need to stare in awe?' Narcissa seemed to answer his stare by speaking herself.<br>"You look most beautiful Katrina." She said proudly, I smiled through gritted teeth.  
>"Thank you Mrs. Malfoy."<br>"You did take your time though didn't you Potter? Our first guests are due to arrive at any mo-" As though they heard their cue the doorbell rang and a lingering house elf, who I now realised was lingering for just this reason, sprung into action. He opened the door and who was to wander through but a very, very pale female, her skin tone was not helped by the dark clothing that was draped over her, the dark rings around her eyes and her extremely dark hair. She wandered over the threshold as if it was her own home, obviously she was comfortable here. Once her and her husband where in the home, her husband coming across as so timid after her powerful entrance that I hardly noticed he was there, and once the woman had taken off her coat (rather rudely stuffing it into the face of the house elf) she started to greet Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy. Just then I began to recognise her, just as she pulled Narcissa in for a hug, she was one of the girls in the photo that I found, one of Narcissa's sisters. As if they could hear my thoughts they turned to introduce me to the couple.  
>"And of course you both know Draco, this is his date" I shuddered "For the evening Miss. Katrina Radcliffe." Lucius introduced me to them and Narcissa's sister seemed to stare at me like I was a piece of the best prime meat.<br>"Hello." I said politely giving a gracious but small curtsey to them both, my maid formalities coming out in me better then ever.  
>"Hello P-Radcliffe." The woman said, to this slip up she gave Narcissa a look and also got a suspicious glare from Lucius. "I'm Bellatrix Lestrange, Narcissa's sister." She introduced herself, I smiled at her realising she was the one who wrote the note on the back of the photo, B. Lestrange. The room fell silent as she continued to stare at me. I was starting to feel slightly embarrassed, I looked over to Draco, who too was staring at her oddly, so this made me feel a little better that staring at new people wasn't her usual behaviour.<br>"Narcissa, what do you say myself, you and Miss. Radcliff here take to the kitchen to bring out the snacks and leave the boys to be boys hmm?" Bellatrix more commanded of her sister then asked as before she even answered Bellatrix had a hold of my wrist. I gave Draco a hopeful fleeting glance but he just unhelpfully shrugged before being dragged into conversation with Bellatrix's husband, who never got an introduction and also seemed to brighten up a bit when Bellatrix said she was leaving the room. I looked at Narcissa while being dragged across the hallway by Bellatrix and she seemed to look almost scared as she glanced at Lucius then slowly followed me and Bellatrix.  
>As soon as the three of us got through the doors of the kitchen Narcissa turned on Bellatrix looking furious.<br>"Bella! I told you not to make it obvious you knew! Now Lucius is going to kill me!" She growled at her.  
>"You're kidding right Sissy? I was trying so hard not to make it obvious!"<br>"HA! You're staring at the girl like she's The Dark Lord, then you nearly slip up and call her Potter, and now, at the first chance you've got you've dragged her off to get a better look at her! Of course Lucius is going to know!" Narcissa growled with her slender arms crossed over her chest. I was just staring between the two, until Bellatrix turned to look at me then my gaze was on her.  
>"I can't help it Sissy, I mean, this is the girl, this is the girl who is going to take down Harry Potter! She's going to destroy him and he'll never know what was coming to him! HAHAHA!" She squealed out a god awful laugh that sounded like nail on a chalk board, I even cringed, but she wasn't bothered she remained staring at me like she was just about ready to eat me. "It excites me so much to think that this will be the girl who changes magical history forever." She turned and looked back at Narcissa. "You realise because of her The Dark Lord will reign supreme forever?" She squealed this out like some kind of school girl. She looked back at me and lifted a hand to my cheek I watched her hand as she brushed a finger down my face, my eyes darting from her hand to her face. I was starting to get a little fed up, she was praising me like some kind of god and yet was acting like I wasn't even there, like I was just some prop.<br>"Excuse me but I am here." I growled at her, Bellatrix turned on me with a smirk. She squealed out one of those awful laughs again before speaking.  
>"Ooh she is feisty, just like you said Sissy. aha! No wonder Draco likes her so, our men have always been known to like a bit of fire in their women!" I blushed a deep red when she said this and she soon got a swift elbow to the ribs from Narcissa.<br>"Bella! I'm sure my son does not wish for her to hear such things." She growled, I just looked to the floor then back at Bellatrix who laughed once more.  
>"Oh yes, with a personality like that I am sure I will enjoy killing you when your deed is done." She growled at me, my eyes widened and Narcissa gave her another, much harder elbow to the ribs.<br>"Bellatrix! You know that the Dark Lord does not yet know what he wishes to do with her after Potter is dead, depending on how well she has succeeded in her task." Narcissa said, more, I felt, for my sake, but I still did not remove the death glare I was now giving Bellatrix. The doorbell going once more dragged all of our attention back to the fact that there was still a party to be had tonight, whether I now wished for it or not.  
>"Come along now, we should get back to greeting my guests." Narcissa said before dragging me back out of the kitchen.<p>

The party was in full swing now, I had been introduced to so many people I'd forgotten half their names already, every time a new person would talk to me Draco would wait a minute and ask me to repeat their name, I'd got it wrong much too many times. I was stood in the den by the pool, much to Narcissa's disgust many of the guests had decided to migrate to this room to talk. I was talking to Blaise Zabini, I was so glad when he'd walked through the door, just to see a familiar face felt good. He was telling me some memory about Draco, which was making me laugh because all it seemed to be was a story about how much of an idiot Draco can be.  
>"So anyway, these beasts that we call 'Hippogriffs' are awful creatures, but Draco decides to try his luck at approaching one,well as you could guess it almost knocked him right out." I laughed as Blaise continued to explain how Draco was acting, bringing body movements into it making me place a hand on his chest to get him to stop.<br>"aha, stop, you're killing me..." I barely managed to gasp out as I held my stomach. Blaise smirked looking down at the hand on his chest, I settled down and straightened myself up before removing my hand. There was silence for a moment before Blaise smirked and stepped a little closer to me.  
>"You do look, beautiful tonight Katrina." Blaise said looking down my body. I smiled at him and felt myself blush, I don't know why I was blushing, probably more because of the wine then the compliment. I took a sip of your wine as I smiled then looked at him. He smirked and took my free hand gently kissing it, I couldn't help but let out a girlish giggle. Suddenly as if from no where Draco appeared by my side pulling my hand away from Blaise and into his own.<br>"Coming on to **my **date Zabini? How very you." He growled as his grip remained on my hand I glared at him. Blaise didn't say anything he just scoffed and looked away, Draco looked over at me and actually looked a little shocked when he saw I was glaring at him.  
>"To be honest Draco I'd rather be the date of a charming <em>man <em>like Blaise then a pompous _boy _like you!" I growled snatching my hand away from Draco and storming out of the Den. I sighed as I crossed my arms over my chest and walked through the packed entrance hall there were so many people I was constantly having to stop and twist my way through them. Eventually I got to the kitchen and although there wasn't many people in there, there happened to be one person who was enough for me. Bellatrix Lestrange's eyes landed on me just as I went to sneak out the door again.  
>"GIRL!" She squealed. "There she is!" She then whispered to the man she was with. I'd been trying to avoid her as much as possible all night and it had worked up until now. Obviously in all my fury at Draco I'd not really thought to keep an eye out for her. I had frozen in my spot just as I felt thin fingers wrap around my wrist and drag me back towards where Bellatrix had been standing before. She pulled me over to a tall hairy man who looked a little too hairy for his own good, he had grey matted hair and whiskers. When his eyes landed on me they lit up in a awful way, he looked as though I was a large slab of the best steak.<br>"This is her Greyback. The girl who is going to destroy Potter." She whispered to him, I glared at her then back at the man.  
>"Mm... You show me her on purpose Lestrange? To <em>tease <em>me? You know how much I like girls." His voice was raspy and creepy. My jaw dropped I was shocked at how he was speaking. He brushed his long yellow finger nail down my arm and I pulled away in disgust.  
>"Urgh! You sick, sick man!" I screamed at him stepping away from him Bellatrix glared at me then looked at Greyback whose face was now twisted into an evil smirk.<br>"You have the guts to speak to me like that girl! You are daring." He growled at me I just glared at him.  
>"Daring? I'm <em>daring <em>for speaking up to a-a paedophile?" I spat at him. Bellatrix laughed loudly one of her awful laughs that make me cringe even Greyback let out a smirk.  
>"You think he's a some kind of muggle child lover girl? Oh how wrong can you be? He is a <em>werewolf<em>" She hissed, I stared at her then at him in shock, I shook my head.  
>"There- There's no such thing as werewolves." This made Greyback smirk again, he approached me, I didn't move out of shock. He got real close to me and brushed another one of his mangy nails down my neck line.<br>"You really believe that girl? Why don't you let me bite you and we'll find out?" He said in an even deeper growl this time, his mouth getting closer and closer to my neck. Suddenly I saw a bright light come from Bellatrix's direction and then, with a very loud crash Greyback was thrown backwards into a wall that had a load of pans stacked up on it, making an even worse noise.  
>"I told you Greyback, no! We must let her do the Dark Lords deeds before harming her." She hissed at him, there was now another strange noise, it sounded like a stampede. Then of course hundreds of guests came rushing through the double doors of the kitchen, some gasped others laughed, but I just stood there like a deer caught in headlights. Draco stepped forwards, he looked at the scene then glared at me, then Lucius, with Narcissa following shortly behind, came bursting through the crowd.<br>"Out of my way. This is my home." He hissed at people, then when he saw the scene in front of his face it twisted into a furious glare at Bellatrix and then to his wife then to Greyback and finally over to me.  
>"Narcissa please take the guests out of here." Narcissa nodded and started getting people to leave. "Draco, take your <em>date <em>out of my sight this instant." He growled lowly so any lingering nosey guest couldn't hear him. Draco nodded and rushed over to me, he grabbed my wrist and sharply tugged me from the room for once I didn't pull from his grip I just allowed him to pull me from the room I was going to defend myself but decided better of it given the situation. Draco dragged me throughout the house until the pair of us got to a quiet hallway of the mansion.  
>"Have I not taught you enough already? You had to go and piss off a werewolf!" He growled at me dropping my wrist and pacing up and down the hallway.<br>"So- So he really was a _werewolf_?" I asked in shock, Draco just gave me a daring look and then continued to pace.  
>"And now father is mad at the both of us! Thanks to you and your big mouth!" He growled.<br>"Excuse me! _My _big mouth!" I squealed furiously. "I wasn't the one who told Greyback who I was that was your mouthy Aunt!" I hissed at him, he turned on me with eyes like daggers.  
>"Do not insult my family Radcliff!" He hissed walking towards me, I rolled my eyes at him then span around and walked off.<br>"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Draco growled from behind me, I started walking a bit faster, glancing into passing rooms to find one to duck into.  
>"Away from you!" I spat rushing round a corner and then into the first door I saw, once I was about halfway into the room however I realised where I was, that creepy 'museum' room. I shuddered and turned around to leave but Draco had quite swiftly caught up with me and was stood in the door way with his arms crossed.<br>"Did I say something to offend you Radcliff?" I shuddered at the use of that name.  
>"You know exactly what you're doing to offend me Malfoy!" I growled, he started approaching me.<br>"Why I don't understand what on earth you could mean _Radcliff_" I scowled at him backing away.  
>"I mean it Malfoy, <em>stop calling me that.<em>" I spat. He'd got quite close to me now, but wasn't quite by me yet as I was still stepping away from him.  
>"Why Radcliff? It is your name after all." He growled, I scowled at him still backing away I suddenly stopped sharply against a wall before I had the chance to get away Draco had stopped me with his arms beside my head. My eyes scowled as I looked up his arm and stopped at his face.<br>"You know it's not. My name is Potter." I said my last name with extra spite knowing how much he hated the fact I was related to his enemy. However he didn't seem to be bothered, it didn't even wipe the smirk off of his face.  
>"Not for the next two weeks it's not. So for now I think I'll grow accustom to calling you <em>Radcliff<em>" He said with total spite, I couldn't stop glaring at him, something in that smart, pompous face of his just couldn't stop turning me on and I hated him for it. I wanted him so badly at that very moment, I should be furious but I wasn't my eyes drifted from his icy blues to his pink lips. I breathed out a breath that I hadn't noticed I was holding, Draco looked at me oddly and just as he went to say something more with a sneer still placed on his lips I pushed my lips into his crashing into them and brushing my tongue against his lips to deepen the kiss.

_'what was I doing?'_


	7. Chapter 7

7.

As I stood there kissing Draco I asked myself what on earth I was thinking. That was until he started kissing back he pushed me against the wall sliding his hands off the wall and on to the back of my head his tongue roaming my mouth. I pushed my body into his feeling how excited the touch of my body made him. I moved my hands down his head and on to the back on his neck tickling it with my fingers. He moved his hands down to the top of my dress and pulled away from the kiss for a moment only to pull down the strapless dress revealing my bare breasts I let out a slight moan as he tugged it off me he grinned wickedly before manoeuvring his hands so they were massaging my breasts he then kissed my lips again brushing his tongue against my lips to deepen the kiss almost instantly. I moaned as he continued to massage my breast. He began kissing down my neck and on to my breasts licking my nipple making me moan out loudly. I pulled off his blazer and threw it to the floor then pulled off his shirt seeing his gorgeous toned chest just turned me on more I let out a grin pulling him away from my body and switching sides with him so he was pushed against the wall by me. I started to kiss down his body kissing and biting at points until I got on to my knees and reached the top of his trousers. I looked up at him with a wicked grin, he looked at me with hungry eyes as he placed one of his hands on to the back of my head. I kissed just above his trousers before slowing undoing the button and zip just as I was about to pull them down we heard footsteps and shouting coming from the hallway.

"Shit." Draco whispered I quickly stood up pulling up my dress and straightening myself out then started helping Draco button up his shirt.

"Draco? Katrina? Where are you?" We heard the calls of Narcissia

"Katrina's probably hiding somewhere knowing what she's done!" I heard the growl of Lucius.

"We're in here!" Draco shouted back to his parents. I straightened out my hair before turning and head towards the door as Draco did up the buttons on his blazer. Suddenly the door opened to reveal Lucius, Narcissia and Bellatrix. Lucius looked at the two of us suspiciously.

"What on earth are you doing in here?" He growled. I blushed giving Draco a sidewards glance, his cheeks also grew a little red.

"We got a little lost while chatting. Sorry father." He quickly lied.

"Right well, for that little stunt Katrina I think its best you stay confined to your bedroom for the next two weeks until Hogwarts-" Lucius said, my jaw dropped.

"What?" I squealed "but it wasn't even my fault! It was her with her big mouth!" I pointed to Bellatrix who sneered and raised her wand Lucius put his hand in front of her and looked to me.

"Watch your tongue pretty girl before I cut it off!" Bellatrix growled. I glared at her and looked back at Lucius.

"Yes and I have spoken to them, both of them." He growled as Narcissia looked down in shame "and we have still decided you shouldn't be allowed to have contact with anyone else but us as it only causes questions." Just as I went to object Lucius cut me off "I have said all you need to hear. What I say goes and it will be the final word. Now leave go to bed, both of you." He hissed. I glared at them all eventually landing on Draco waiting for him to stand up for me but he just avoided my gaze. I let out a exhausted squeal before storming off to my bedroom.

The next two weeks became two of the dullest weeks of my life. I literately was confined to my bedroom for the entire time. The only times I left was to eat and to go to the bathroom and even then I had to have Draco or a house elf there to escort me. They too had a pretty dull job though, standing outside my bedroom all the time. The weeks passed slowly and soon enough it was the day before we were going to Hogwarts, all I'd been doing for the past two weeks was cramming and researching my new life as a witch so I felt pretty confident about starting school. I was also meeting one of the teachers today so he could give me a hint to what I have to expect. His name is Snape and he was due any minute. Apparently he was also one of the Dark Lords followers so he knew about our plan and it was okay for me to meet him. I was sat in my room waiting for him, Lucius still didn't want me leaving just in case anyone else came with him. Finally Lucius walked in, following him was a tall man with greasy long black hair, he was wearing a dark black cloak and had a strong unpleasant look on his face.

"This is her." Lucius said "Katrina this is Professor Snape."

"Nice to meet you sir." I said standing from my bed and walking over to shake his hand, he returned the shake and nodded.

"Nice to meet you too Miss. Potter. I'm afraid I cannot stay long as otherwise it may look suspicious however I just wanted to meet the girl who is going to take down the boy who lived." He smirked, he turned to Lucius and they started talking. I heard the doorbell go again in the background and got distracted by that I peeked out the now open bedroom door but I couldn't see from where I was any way so it was pointless, I started to listen to the conversation with Snape again when my name was mentioned.

"Yes well I have informed Dumbledore of Katrina and he is very excited to meet you, however I've managed to convince him that her and her parents are not currently in the country so they wont be able to meet anyone until Hogwarts begins. I have also convinced him to make it so I will be giving you all your evening classes to help you catch up at least you will have a friendly face." He explained "Anyway I must go. I look forward to teaching you Miss. Potter." He nodded and then just as swiftly as they entered him and Lucius left closing the door behind them. I sighed, back to boredom, I couldn't believe the most exciting part of my week was meeting my teacher! I thought about that while laying down on to my bed again staring up at the ceiling.

Just as I was about to make some lame excuse of boredom hunger just to get the chance to leave my cosy prison cell. I heard Draco's bedroom door open and then close shortly after. I took no notice assuming it was someone taking their guard position, however then I heard a unfamiliar female voice, squeaky, higher pitched then Narissia's and it sounded very irritating. I shot up, excited to have something to do, and crawled over to the door between mine and Draco's rooms like a ninja. I pushed the door open slightly peeking through the tiny gap I made. I gasped as I saw a short brunette strutting around Draco's room like she owned the place. She threw herself down on to the bed were Draco was laying reading a book looking rather uninterested in her. She had now sat so she was facing my way I got a good look at her, he had short brunette hair that was cut into a very unflattering bob cut. Although not a lot could be done with her hair to accompany _that_ face, well besides combing it over to cover up her ugly looks entirely. Her nose was squashed into her face but her lips pouted out far too much and her forehead resembled a bowling ball it was so wide and high, not to mention shiny. She broke me out of my analysis of her horrendous looks by speaking to Draco.

"So Dray what we doing today?" She whined in a high pitched squeal that I was surprised didn't make dogs run to her aid. I had a quick snigger at the nick name '_Dray_' before continuing to eavesdrop.

"You know what I want Parkinson, and how many times must I ask you _not_ to call me that?" He spoke without even lifting his gaze from his book.

"And how many times must I ask you _not _to call _me_ _that?_" She snapped back, receiving only an eye roll in reply she sighed "I'm starting to think _that_ is all you want me for nowadays Draco." She said looking longingly at him for a reply, but yet again he did not look up from his book, must be a damn good book. She pressed on "I mean I am your girlfriend, I expect some wine and dining not just going to your room for a shag!" She complained, I gasped covering my mouth as soon as I let the air in.

_'he has a girlfriend?_

_Cheating creep!'_

I thought to myself reeling back into my own room slightly hoping they hadn't heard my gasp, luckily they hadn't.

"Look Pansy, do you want to sleep with me today or not? Cause if not you might as well head on home." I heard Draco's voice say bluntly and I held in a scoff, crawling on my elbows closer again so I could see the two of them. Pansy sighed and climbed up to him on the bed.

"Fine." She growled as they started kissing passionately her body holding over Draco's as she pushed her lips into his. I gasped again, obviously a little louder this time as Draco's eyes shot open and straight over to me. I gasped covering my mouth, but his knowledge of me seeing them brought a wild smirk to his half occupied lips and suddenly he pounced on top of the girl throwing her below him this time. I was disgusted by the fact that my audience had spurred him on, it was perverse so I closed the door as quietly as I had opened it and stood up spinning on my heel and heading away from the door. I growled as I sat down on my bed my head in my hands as I leant my elbows on my knees. I felt dirty, having Draco cheat on his girlfriend with me and then passionately make love to her while I was in the next room, it was horrendous hearing them in the other room. I wanted to throw up, I actually gagged a little at the thought of that Pansy girl naked. Yet amongst all the self-loathing and feelings of anger towards Draco did I sense a slight pang of jealousy too? I sighed rubbing my temples looking up from my position on the bed, my eyes landed on the wardrobe and it dawned on me that right now would be the perfect time to try on Narcissa's dress. Nobody would walk in on me what with Draco being pre-occupied and his parents probably realising this and leaving him to it and I needed something to take my mind off of the scene happening in the next room. With that thought I jumped off the bed and took the few steps to the wardrobe door swiftly pulling it open. The ruby red dress practically flew out at me I was so quick to get hold of it, I rushed into it pulling the strapless dress up to my chest patting it down as I looked in the body length mirror at myself. The dress came to my mid-thigh and was fitted at the top until it got to the waist line then a thinner bit of material flowed down a large slit in the middle of them going from my belly button to were the thin material ended which was at the floor. The fitted part of the dress continued down from my waist though coming to just between my hips and my knee settling happily in the middle of my thighs. I grinned at myself in the mirror, the red complimenting my naturally tanned skin beautifully. I did a small spin on the spot making the thin floor length part of the dress flutter through the air. I grinned at myself seeing some matching lipstick on the side, I picked it up and brushed it over my pink lips quickly turning them a ruby red colour. I rubbed my lips together before smiling happily to myself. Just as I thought I'd seen enough of myself in the dress to make sure I'd have a constant mental image if I ever needed cheering up I heard the door open quickly and close almost just as fast. I shot around to come to see Draco stood at the door looking dishevelled and almost a little panicked as he faced the door. I gasped looking down at myself before looking back up at him with a cringed expression ready for the argument to begin. Draco pushed his hair back into its usual hung just above his grey eyes position and patted down his clothes before turning to me with a smirk on his face.

"I saw you spying Radcliff, like what you s-" He was cut off when he looked up at what I was wearing I smiled sheepishly

"I know! I'm sorry I shouldn't have been even looking at her dresses let alone trying them on! I was actually just about to take it off when you walked in..." While I was speaking Draco just stared at me with a shocked expression on his face slowly walking towards me and when I ended my sentence he was a lot closer then I had expected him to be. He just continued to stare down at me as he stood inches from my slender frame. At first he didn't move but after a minute or so of awkward silence he lifted his hand to my chin lifting my face to look at his. I was expecting a look of anger maybe even one of his smug smirks but what I saw instead was what I was _least_ expecting. He had a look of hunger in his eyes, a hunger that I had seen just two weeks before in the museum room. With that he lowered his head his lips centimetres from mine and as I felt his warm breathe against my lips I felt goosebumps rush all over my body as I felt myself push my lips into his for a kiss. I was shocked by my own actions and clearly so was Draco as for a good few seconds he didn't react but once he regained his composure he quickly took control. One of his arms wrapped around my waist as he walked me backwards pushing me up against the wardrobe. I moaned at his eagerness as his tongue brushed against my lips wanting to deepen the kiss, I allowed him he roamed my mouth attentively as he now moved both his hands down to my bum cheeks and lifted me up holding me against the wardrobe. I twisted my arms behind his neck pushing my fingers through the back of his hair tugging on it slightly hearing him moan making me more eager for him. Suddenly his lips pulled away from mine making a sad pout form on my mouth.

"I think you taking that dress off is a good idea." He whispered out of breath my red lipstick now strewn all over his mouth. At first I almost obliged to his demand until I realised what he had been doing just minutes before suddenly the anger and self-loathing rushed back through me. I pushed him away from me, not succeeding very well and only actually getting him about an inch away from me but it was enough for me to slip out from between him and the wardrobe and angrily storm to the middle of the room.

"Bog off Malfoy! I saw what you were doing in there, you have a girlfriend! And don't think because she doesn't want you you're allowed to come in here a take out your pent up sexual frustrations on me!" I hissed at him. Malfoy turned to me I assumed he was going to be angry but instead a wild smirk had appeared on his face, for a second shock hit my face but I soon changed my expression into a scowl.

"My _girlfriend _would never stop wanting me." He hissed in a very sexual tone. Just as I went to snipe back at him the door flew open.

"What are you doing in here Dra-" The short figure of Draco's girlfriend appeared in the doorway she cut herself off when her eyes landed on me "Who are you?" She growled I took in her appearance realising she was only wearing her underwear. I looked from her to Draco who stepped towards her blushing slightly at her attire.

"She's none of your concern Pansy. Go back into my room, I told you I would be back in a second-" He hissed at her, her squeal cut him off.

"You told me you were 'getting into something more comfortable' in here!" She glared at his lips then back at mine, when I quickly realised what it was she was glaring at I gasped and covered what must now be my smudged lipstick. "But instead you've been in here _kissing_ some _slut!_" She squealed in that horrendous high pitched voice making me cringe. I scowled at her, seeing Draco smirk at me in the corner of my eye, clearly knowing what my reaction to her words would be.

"_Excuse me?_ Look _bitch_ I don't know, or care, who you think you are but you keep going around calling me shit like that and you're going to get yourself hurt!" I spat at her. She screamed out in frustration before storming back into Draco's room. I looked over at Draco crossing my arms over myself "You better go after you _girlfriend_" I growled he just smirked and casually strolled out of the room closing the door behind him. I sighed dropping down on the the bed pushing my hair out of my face. For the next few hours I heard a lot of screaming from Pansy's part. Mostly about the fact that Draco still had lipstick smudged all over his face. Eventually the shouting died down and a door slamming in formed me that Pansy had left. I sighed once more. _This year is going to be fun._

I woke up the next morning with a pang of nerves attacking my stomach. Draco and his family had already explained to me how things were going to go down when it came to getting to the train that took the students to Hogwarts, something that I thought sounded very non-magical. We were going to meet with my parents not far from the station and they would be the ones to take me to the platform so that it did not look suspicious. I was not allowed to speak to Draco while at school unless we were alone, nobody could know we knew each other out of fear it may ruin the mission. When my parents and I did get to the platform we were going to seek out and find Harry Potter and introduce ourselves. Apparently he has only recently been told about me so he knows he will be meeting us tomorrow. I couldn't imagine what the poor boy was thinking, he must have so many questions. Hence my nerves, what do I tell him? What is he like? Will he like me? I sighed, I'd decided it would be best to tell him the trust that my parents had given me up that way there was no way to get myself into trouble, however I wasn't sure how he was going to take the news that my parents had been selfish and cut him out of their lives on purpose because they did not want to get hurt themselves. I stood up moving to the wardrobe to change. Narcissia had already helped me to pack the night before and had left out a plain black t-shirt and some jeans that she had deemed acceptable to wear for the first day at school. I thought about everything again, it wasn't just meeting Harry that was making me nervous, I was due to meet my parents properly for the first time in my life. That was enough to make any girl nervous but I didn't have long to dread things as the second that I was dressed Draco knocked on my door and let himself in.

"Ready? We've got to leave now." He said, I just nodded at him briefly pulling a trunk along behind me with a cage and a squawking owl sat on top of it. We used Floo powder to get to a small dark and dingy house that was obviously unused. As soon as I fell through the fireplace I felt Draco's hands snake around my biceps holding me back from rushing over to my parents who were also being held back by some men in those creepy masks like before Lucius was first to speak.

"You know the deal Potter, you take her to the train station allow her to leave for Hogwarts, do not try to escape." He growled he stared straight at my father who just glared back at him while my mother fidgeted against the men holding her back trying to get over to me, I smiled at her as Lucius continued talking but before I had a chance to listen Draco whispered in my ear.

"See you in school Radcliff." He said a shiver finding its way up my spine as I felt his hot breath against my ear I could sense him smirking at this before I heard Lucius speaking again.

"We will be watching." He growled and with that the three of us were let go and with a loud _pop _all the others left leaving me with my 'parents'. Suddenly my nervous sick feelings returned, but before I had a chance to speak my mother ran at me and hugged me and suddenly, with no explanation or pre warning I started to cry into her shoulder, my father quickly came over to us and hugged us both. It felt so nice to just have a family. My father was the one to break the comfortable silence.

"I'm afraid they have not left us with long my sweet Katrina so we cannot really talk. We have to get moving so we can get to the station in time for you to meet your cousin." I sniffed at his voice and pulled away from the two of them, my mothers arm still around my shoulder.

"I don't want to do this, I don't want to kill my cousin." I whined childishly my father looked at me sympathetically wiping the tears off my cheeks.

"We know. We'll think of something to get us out of this, do not worry my daughter." He smiled, I returned the smile as I felt a warmth rush over me at him calling me his daughter. With that my mother held on to me and nodded to my father with a pop he disappeared she then looked down at my slightly worried face.

"Don't worry Katrina, just hold on to me tight, this is going to feel a little weird." She explained I tightly held my arms around her waist and soon I felt a strange dragging feeling, I imagined it was much like what it would feel like to be sucked through a straw. Whatever it was it made me feel rather queasy and when I felt my feet touch the floor once more my mothers grip loosened on me. I pulled away and stumbled over to a wall to lean on it sure I was going to be sick but nothing came up and soon my father came over to me.

"It happens to us all the first time." He explained.

"Wh-What was that?" I asked regaining my breath.

"We apparated. It's what wizards use to get around." My mother explained, I let out a breathe that I had only just realised I had been holding on to before looking around at where we were. I realised we were down an alleyway, my father was glancing around to see if anyone had noticed us suddenly appear, they hadn't.

"Lets go." He called over to me and my mother who was lovingly brushing me down. We walked towards him and as I walked out of the alley I looked up to see Kings Cross Station.

"We're in London?" I questioned, my mother nodded to me.

"Yes sweetheart, this is where the train departs from." She explained I frowned, doesn't seem very magical. I continued walking as we entered the station. We walked past each platform before finally stopping just between 9 and 10. I glanced around looking for the red train that Draco had told me about.

"I don't see the train." I said looking at my mother, she smiled in a slightly patronising way.

"It's through there dear." She explained but when I looked at the wall she was pointing to I just grew more confused. She could see this in my face. "Watch your father." She said and my father nodded to her before taking my owl and my trunk having a glance round at all the people, none of which looked interested in him. He took a step back before running towards the wall at quite a speed, I gasped and stepped forwards to stop him but was quickly grabbed back by mum. Before I knew it he had disappeared _through_ the wall.

"Our turn. Don't worry just relax, I'll do it with you." I nodded and took a deep breathe in and before I knew it me and mum had started running at the wall I closed my eyes as I came to inches from the wall and the next thing I heard was the loud screech of a trains horn. I opened my eyes to see a beautiful red steam train, steam clouding most of the platform I felt goosebumps appear on my skin. _Had I just experienced my first taste of magic?_ I felt a grin jump to my lips as my mother dragged me through the crowds, many parents were there saying good bye to their children. I looked around and my eyes landed on the Malfoys, dad had seen them too, his eyes turned into a glare in their direction as we passed them. My mother still had a hold of my wrist pulling me through the crowds before she came to an abrupt stop in front of a large family of red headed people. I tip-toed to try and see over the shoulders of my parents and see who this family was. I heard my parents talking.

"That's him Jason." My mother whispered.

"I know dear, brace yourself." My father replied before grabbing hold of my mothers hand. The three of us stepped forwards my father clearing his throat to get the family's attention. It had worked, the whole group looked as though they had been on edge anyway, my mother pulled me to between her and my father and now I got a good look at the family. I realised they were all red headed except one boy who had black hair and one girl who had frizzy brunette hair. It was only after examining the family, made up of three boys one girl and their parents, that I realised all of them were staring at me and my parents/ I blushed slightly at my sudden realisation of all their eyes on me.

"Can we help you?" The father of the group spoke he was staring at me very suspiciously and that was when I realised I had seen him before, he was Arthur Weasley I'd met him at the Ministry with Lucius. He seemed to be having the same thoughts as he looked at me with narrowed eyes, I stepped back trying to hid behind my mother slightly. I hoped the fact that he hadn't got a very good look at me that day would work for me.

"Well you can't but Harry can." My father said, his eyes falling on Harry with a kind smile. Harry stepped forwards staring at us with complete bewilderment, as though we were talking owls. Although in this place that probably wouldn't be that shocking! I risked a worried glance at my father who returned my worry by clutching my hand his warm hand comforting me slightly.

"We are your family Harry. I am your aunt, this is your uncle and here is your cousin; Katrina." My mother said nudging me forwards slightly. I smiled at the blue eyed boy.

"Hello." I said, now noticing the lighting shaped scar on his forehead. For a second he just stared at me before his eyes narrowed into suspicion.

"How do I know I can trust you?" Harry growled more towards my father then anyone else. I wasn't shocked, I had been just as unnerved by the situation as he was at first, clearly untrustworthiness runs in the family. "Sirius doesn't. He said you left my father to fend for himself! Telling him your family was more important and you didn't want to get involved. He said he hasn't heard of you since, how can I trust you're not lying? Even if you are my uncle you left my family to be killed!"

"Harry!" The frizzy haired girl scolded at her friend.

"No no dear it's fine, it's true." My mother spoke up "And that is why we have come out of hiding now, at the highest point of You-Know-Who's power. We want to help you Harry, make up for our past and what we did to your parents. Please, forgive us, maybe not right now but at least let us know you can? We are so, so sorry." She explained, Harry's narrowed eyes looked over at my mother scanning her face.

"Also, please do not hold Katrina accountable for any of this, she did not know about any of it, me, you, your aunt or even magic until a few weeks ago." My father explained. "Allow your cousin a clean slate please?" Finally Harry's suspicious eyes landed on to me. My slightly intrigued expression soon turned to a faint smile as he looked at me. His eyes grew slightly the suspicion leaving his face.

"I will give Katrina the benefit of the doubt. I'll need until Christmas until I can properly believe you two." My parents nodded.

"Understandable." My father said with a smile on his face. A loud whistle blow informed all parties that the train was about to leave and quickly the red headed family started saying their goodbyes.

"You better go dear, you don't want to be late." My mother said putting her hand on the back of my head. My father quickly hugged me as did my mother.

"We love you dear and we will see you at Christmas." My mothers eyes started to well up as she brought me into another hug "Good luck" she whispered into my ear, I nodded into her shoulder before releasing her and turning to Harry.

"Goodbye Harry." My father said.

"Goodbye Jason." Harry replied, he quickly grabbed my wrist and helped me on to the train pulling me, the frizzy haired girl and one of the red headed boys into the first empty carriage he saw and closed the doors. He swiftly sat down, I sat opposite him with the girl to my left and the window to my right. The red haired boy sat beside Harry they were all just staring at me, gob smacked.

"There isn't really any resemblance." The boy muttered I looked a little sheepishly at them all.

"Hello, I'm Katrina." I said at the two people I did not know, they let out small scoffs, as if they didn't already know my name. Before the frizzy haired girl held her hand out to me.

"Hello Katrina, my name is Hermione I'm one of Harry's best friends." She smiled at me, I grinned back, happy to finally get some friendly reactions out of someone. "And this in Ronald Weasley, another of Harry's best friends, his family were the red headed lot you saw outside." She smiled again, I nodded and looked to Ron who smiled back. I smiled then my eyes landed on Harry who was staring out the window at the platform, as we started moving I fidgeted slightly, in the awkward silence then finally as soon as the platform was out of sight Harry's eyes moved to mine with that same suspicious look he had earlier.

"So Katrina, as you can probably imagine, I've got a lot of questions for you."


	8. Chapter 8

**8.**

I stared at Harry's serious suspicious blue eyes before answering.

"Well of course, I expected there would be some questions but I got to warn you, I haven't got much more of a clue then you do." I told the truth with a smile. He just swiftly nodded and pushed on.

"Even so, you know why your parents left me and mine right?" He asked, Hermione and Ron staring intensely at my face now too.

"Well yes they didn't want me or themselves harmed as punishment for your parents actions. A very selfish act I'll admit, but we all suffered too Harry, I didn't even know I had parents until last week-"

"Yes and until last week I thought I didn't have any wizarding family!" He cut me off sharply making me glare at him.

"I am sorry for what you've been through Harry, I know it must have been tough and I know you probably would have loved to have someone to go through this all with." I sighed feeling his pain "And if I'd known about you before last week I would have been here in a shot." I got a smile out of him for that one.

"Speaking of that, what took you so long? Why did you wait a week before meeting Harry?" Hermione piped up, I unintentionally sent her a bit of a glare, it wasn't any of her business, why were her and Ron even here? I looked back at Harry and my look softened.

"Well.." And here's where the lies began. "I obviously had only just found out about my own parents, I wanted at least a week with them before I had to explain myself or meet anyone else." I lied.

"Understandable." Harry agreed, sounding as though he was trying to convinced the quizzical looking Hermione.

"Besides, I figured this long train journey would give us plenty of time to catch up!" I smiled at Harry and he smiled back.

"Well I'm not sure how much longer this catch up is gonna stay private." Ron finally piped up, I looked at him to see his eyes on the corridors of the train outside our carriage. Only now had I noticed the groups of people at each side peering in at the four of us like we were animals in a zoo.

"Oh my god, what's their problem?" I asked a blush rushing to my face.

"Harry is the boy who lived, he's infamous in the wizarding world, people hearing he's got a cousin is going to attract some gossip." Hermione explained as the three of them just looked at all the people outside with no real shock or interest.

"And I think I know who we have to blame for the entire school finding out so quickly." Hermione growled, her expression now low and angry as she stared at the two red haired twins who were stood outside the carriage talking to people and pointing in at us. She suddenly stood opening the door, allowing a few whispers to carry their way in.

"Is that her?"

"She's pretty!"

"Prettier then Potter anyway"

Hearing the few whispers made a deeper flush or pink rise over my cheeks. Hermione dragged in the two twins by their collars and the slammed the door shut glaring at the few stragglers that hadn't ran off when she'd opened the door.

"You two!" She squealed as the pair sat themselves down one on either side of me.

"Yes Hermione?" They said unison with very obviously fake innocent expressions.

"Well, what... you... they..." Hermione squealed all together her expression growing worn and frustrated "Ronald!" She yelled at Ron making him jump.

"What? What did I do!" He squeaked, she groaned motioning towards his brothers. "Well people were going to find out eventually Hermione, we couldn't exactly put a bag over the girls head!" The two twins sniggered beside me.

"Exactly Hermione... People were going to find out eventually"

"You just need to learn how to calm down." One twin ended the others sentence and just as Hermione opened his mouth to speak again they didn't allow her the chance as they both rounded on me.

"Hello I'm Fred Weasley," the one to my left said

"And I'm George Weasley." The other on my right finished. I grinned, finally someone with a little fun in their blood, I was beginning to think this was a school for morbid students.

"Hello, I'm Katrina Potter." They just nodded.

"Yes, yes we know that, what we don't know is how you got here? Where have you been?-"

"Do you think I'm handsome?" George finished Fred's sentence with a joke, I laughed and the two boys grinned wildly at each other letting out cheers.

"She laughs!" George cheered.

"We were starting to think you were as stuck up as Hermione." Fred finished gaining him a swift glare from the frizzy haired girl now sat opposite him and another light laugh from me. Just as I opened my mouth to explain my story the door flew open and a familiar face appeared in the doorway.

"Oh what now?" Hermione growled looking up at the boy in the doorway.

"Shut up Granger." His familiar cold voice was a welcomed tone to my ears, although it seemed to send everyone else in the room on edge. Especially Harry, I eyed Harry up as he glared over to the door before moving my eyes to Draco who stood in the doorway with two larger boys stood behind him. He was looking at me with a large smirk.

"So the rumours are true." His eyes did not move from my own, I struggled to hold back a smirk as I thought of the past three weeks I had spent with him. I then remembered I had to act like I did not know him.

"Potter has a cousin!" He said in a sarcastically sing-song voice. The twins glared at him from either side of me. "You must be _so_ pleased Potter!" He growled looking over to Harry with anger set in his eyes.

"I am actually Malfoy, it's nice to see another person with some _good_ intentions!" Harry spat at Draco, causing an even bigger smirk to set on to Draco's lips, he looked back at me causing me to blush and avoid his eye contact.

"Well it's good to see your family can create something worth looking at Potter." The blush on my cheeks grew deeper again. "Even if she is a muggle-lover." Draco growled, I looked up at him with a half confusion half insulted look in my eyes.

"Bog off Malfoy." The twins were quick to defend me standing from their seats, Draco just continued to stare at me with a slight look of regret in his eyes. Before he sneered at the boys.

"Like I want to be near you mud-bloods for any longer!" And with that he span on his heel and left the two boys following quickly behind him. I looked from his departing figure to the twins with a smile.

"Thanks for that." I mumbled they grinned.

"No worries!" Fred said

"Any excuse to square up to that prick and we're all over it!" George laughed I smiled at them both before Harry looked, slightly worriedly out the window.

"I think we're approaching Hogsmeade. We better go change, Katrina I'll show you to the toilets." He said and as I pulled my uniform out of my bag he pulled me into the corridors.

After passing a lot of whispering people and gaining a ton of suspicious glances I was finally changed and I as I climbed off the train I heard Harry call to me from my right, I turned to look at him and noticed he was climbing into a horse drawn carriage. I walked over only to notice the horses weren't horses at all but strange winged creatures. I didn't get long to examine them as soon I felt a hand grip my wrist and pull me into the carriage. I looked over at my cousin with a smile as he let go of my wrist.

"Katrina this is Neville Longbottom, Neville this is my cousin Katrina." Harry introduced me to a timid looking brunette boy who didn't even look me in the eye as he held his hand out to me, I smiled and took his hand giving it a gentle shake.

"Nice to meet you Neville." I spoke kindly

"You too.." He spoke back in a voice almost as timid as his expression. I looked away and outside at the passing trees as I let my hand drop from Neville's and back into my lap. The forest we were passing was beautiful, I contently smiled at the passing beauty as I heard Harry speak from my side.

"This is the Forbidden forest. There's all types of magical creatures in there, that's why it's Forbidden." He explained I nodded.

"How many of you guys have been in there then?" I laughed, knowing that it being Forbidden only made me want to go in there. Looking at their expressions told me the answer to my question. Hermione and Ron both looked away guiltily, Neville looked a little shocked at the question and Harry just grinned at me.

"I thought so." I said "I'd be in there most nights." I laughed.

"It's forbidden for a reason don't forget. You'll get yourself hurt if you go in there too often." Hermione warned, I just glanced at her then back to Harry who was still grinning even though his eyes were now looking out the window. Finally the carriages went through a large gate and as we all climbed out I saw a huge castle come into my view, I gasped at it's vastness. It was beautiful.

"If you think this is good wait till you get inside." Harry said grinning at my side, he quickly grabbed my wrist and pulled me along with the rest of the students. We walked into a large hall with four tables running down the middle of it, one was decorated with blue, one with yellow, one with red and one with green a few students had already sat down. Among them was Draco sat at the green table. I looked to Harry.

"What's with the colours?" I questioned he looked at me with suspicion for a second before answering.

"They're the houses... Didn't your parents tell you?" He asked I went to open my mouth to ask what the significance of the houses were but I was dragged away. I looked up to see an older woman holding on to my wrist.

"Who are you!" I squealed.

"I am Professor McGonagall, and I'm assuming you're Miss. Potter?" She asked I just sheepishly nodded. "Which means you are a transfer student so you must wait over here." And with that she put me at the end of a line of very nervous 11 year olds. I shot a confused look over to Harry, who was sat at the red table, his face just mirrored mine, unfortunately I had a feeling he wasn't confused for the same reason as me. I can't imagine the fact that I had no idea what these houses were went down too well with him. I looked to the front of the hall were a pointed hat was sat upon a stool. I watched it, along with everyone else in the room and suddenly it split at the seams and started singing a song, I gasped at it receiving a few glares from the younger students in front of me. It sung about the four houses and their traits when it finished a nervous pang hit my stomach, I had a feeling I wasn't going to be joining my cousin in Gryffindor.

"Agerson, Jennifer." The woman I now knew as McGonagall called out. My nerves getting the better of my mind and allowing my brain a brief panic at the thought of going up on stage.

"Gryffindor!" The hat yelled out, the entire red table roared with cheers as the young girl went and sat down. My breathing going wild and before I knew it half an hour had passed at the child in front of me was the only think stopping me from being up on that stage.

"Ravenclaw!" The hat yelled and the blue table cheered, something that I had discovered was a tradition for all houses to do. I stared at McGonagall hoping she wouldn't call me as my nerves made me start to feel sick.

"And finally our only transfer student this year. Potter, Katrina." With that a chorus of whispers and gasps flew around the room, even amongst the teachers. This did not help my want to walk up those two steps on to the stage as all eyes landed on me and whispers still continued to echo through the room McGonagall let out a loud cough and all noise stopped. She stared at me and finally my feet did what my mind was begging them not to. I stepped up to the stool my hand shaking with nerves I sat down and McGonagall placed the hat upon my head.

"Ah Miss. Potter!" The hat said into my ears and my ears only making me jump, I heard a few sniggers come from the crowd as the hat continued. "Oh you are a bit of an interesting one aren't you?" He taunted. "You're nervous, very nervous, why is that? Ohh, now I see why. Well you have definitely got the bravery to join your cousin in his house. However all this anger all this hatred and so many secrets, ones that you are even keeping from yourself, that could never do in Gryffindor." My stomach dropped. "You are not well learned in the magical ways to belong to Ravenclaw and you are far too outspoken for Hufflepuff!" My heart pumped in my mouth I couldn't breath as he said the words I was half suspecting."There is only one thing for it... SLYTHERIN." The entire hall erupted, but not into cheers from the green table instead into gasps from all tables, even the teachers table. I even heard someone yell out 'No' I looked to see Harry out of his seat staring at me in shock and slight disgust I didn't understand why. The hat was slowly lifted off my head by McGonagall as though she was expecting the hat to be wrong and I stood up. I didn't walk over to the Slytherin table deafened by cheers though instead I was just defended by a horrible silence that made me feel a little sick. I sat at the table as a tall old man with a long beard came to the podium. He let out a cough dragging a few of the staring eyes away from me. He started explaining about a new teacher and a few other things. The new teacher stood up, a woman in a pink dress giggled, she then stepped forwards and started her own speech to the students. I could tell this wasn't a usual tradition from the whispering that had started, quietly thanking this woman for the very welcomed attention change from me to her I raised my head and looked around at my fellow students. The two sat opposite and next to me still had their eyes on me, I also sensed someone else's eyes on me. I looked up to see a pair of grey eyes smirking at me, I looked away from Draco and back to the front just as the woman in pink sat down. Suddenly food appeared in front of me but with my nerves and the fact I didn't have a massive appetite anyway I had a feeling I was going hungry tonight. As the whole hall erupted into friends catching up on each others summer holidays I suddenly felt very lonely. To my surprise the girl beside me glanced at me, her long black hair falling over her shoulder as she did, she seemed to size me up for a moment before speaking.

"This is ridiculous. Hi, I'm Daphne Greengrass, please ignore the rest of the Slytherins, we are a very rude bunch of individuals!" She smiled to me, she was a very pretty girl, her skin was unblemished and her eyes a striking blue tint. I smiled back to her glad to have _someone_ to talk to.

"Hi Daphne, I'm Katrina and you will not understand how much of a pleasure it is to meet you!" I left out a laugh, she grinned back.

"Well we couldn't have a pretty girl like you being the loneliest girl in school could we? Besides I need someone to help me escape from these two every once in a while." She pointed over to Draco who I now noticed has a short haired brunette hanging off of his arm. "They never get off each other, makes me sick!" Daphne explained, I let out a snort which brought Pansy's attention over to me. Her face dropped she glared at me with her mouth open and then her angry eyes landed on Draco.

"Wow, she isn't fond of you?" Daphne asked me, I let out a guilty laugh.

"Probably just doesn't like the idea of a Potter being in Slytherin." I tried to sound as sincere as possible. Daphne nodded eating some food.

"Ah, yeah, well I don't think she's alone there." She said shooting one of the gossiping fourth years a glare. I gulped, this situation was going to be tough. Just as I finally went to eat something Pansy shot out of her seat after having a heated conversation with Draco she then shot me a filthy look before storming away. Draco stood shortly after also giving me a look, not an angry one though, a slightly worried one. I gulped again as he walked out I allowed my eyes to wander over to the Gryffindor table. Harry was also staring at the doors that Draco and Pansy had just left through, his eyes then landed on to me, I looked away quickly, obviously Draco and Pansy's looks at me hadn't gone unnoticed by Harry. This situation was going to be _really_ tough.


	9. Chapter 9

**9.**

After dinner, which you hadn't managed to stomach any of, everyone got up to leave and go to their common rooms. I stood with everyone else and as I went to leave McGonagall called me over, I turned and walked over to her.

"Please report to me in my office in the morning to get your schedule, I'm sure your cousin or maybe your new friend Miss. Greengrass will show you the way." She said directing towards Daphne who was still stood waiting for me, I smiled more out of Daphne's loyalty then the conversation with McGonagall.

"Yes Professor." I nodded before turning around and heading to Daphne. "Thank you for waiting." I said she grinned.

"No worries, us Slytherins have gotta stick together ya know?" She said nudging me as we walked beside each other.

"So I have no idea where we're going?" I admitted Daphne laughed.

"Well our common room is in the dungeons so we've gotta head down here." She said walking towards some stairs. "So how has the Gryffindor prince's cousin ended up in Slytherin?" She asked, the question had obviously been burning inside her brain. I let out an awkward laugh before coughing the laugh off at the serious look on her face.

"Erm, the hat said something about secrets, apparently I had too many and that sort of thing isn't appreciated in Gryffindor." I said honestly not wanting to blurt out about my mission.

"Ha, yeah those Gryffindors sure do like to share their feelings." She growled giving a glare to a wall. I frowned I didn't understand the hatred that the two houses so obviously shared between each other but I didn't have any time to ask before Daphne cut across my thoughts.

"Oh, all fifth year girls share a floor by the way, so we will most likely be in a room with Pansy, I have been every other year, we just better hope you're not alone in there, at least with me about I can defend you." She smiled I grinned back to her.

"Why are you being so nice?" I asked her, her look softened into sympathy.

"Let's just say I know how it feels to be singled out for your family members." She explained no further so I took that as a hint to stop prying I nodded as we approached a plain wall. "Here's the entrance to our common room." She explained. "All the common rooms have passwords, I asked the prefect what ours was this year. It's Salazar." She explained aiming the last part more to the wall then me. The wall then slid across unveiling a large green and silver decorated room with leather sofas and a large fireplace in the centre there were two sets of stairs leading off on the opposite walls. Daphne lead me inside, and suddenly another horrible hit of nerves as the few people who had been left in the common room quickly shut up when we walked in informing me that they had in fact been talking about me. I looked to my feet shyly while Daphne just threw the two third years a glare.

"Ah, what are you guys? Third years?" The two girls nodded in slight fear of Daphne. "Yeah I was pretty cocky in my third year too... till some fifth year came and taught me a lesson." They stared up at her with wide eyes. "Don't make history repeat itself." Daphne growled lowly and with that the two third years gulped and ran up one of the stairs. Daphne turned to me with a grin on her face, I smiled at her.

"Thank you." I said in slight awe.

"No worries, like I said, we gotta stick together." She smiled before leading me up the same stairs the two other girls had ran up. We walked into a room and the same situation occurred the two girls who were inside quickly stopped talking when we entered the room. Luckily this time I didn't feel like it was my fault.

"Ah Daphne, I'm so glad it's you, I thought it was Pansy for a second." A quite large girl said sat on one of the five beds in the room. I looked at her, she was quite unattractive, her short black frizzy hair not doing anything to compliment her large round face.

"Yeah we were in the middle of talking about her!" The other girl piped up, she was slim, rather too slim, and had beautiful large green eyes that glimmered in the light of the lamps dotted around the room, he hair was blonde and shoulder length.

"I'm glad she's not here too, I've got someone for you two to meet, without her intrusion." Daphne glared towards the door as if to make sure Pansy wouldn't walk in. "Girls this is Katrina Potter and please don't take her name for anything to judge her by, she's a lovely girl." I smiled at Daphne before walking over to both girls with my hand out, first I went to the skinny girl.

"I'm Tracey Davis." She said her skeletal like hand slipping into mine and shaking it, her faint smile was a welcome compared to the face the fat girl was pulling at me. I moved over to her and held my hand out, she looked at my hand with a sneer.

"Bulstrode!" Daphne growled from behind me and the fat girl rolled her eyes.

"I'm Millicent Bulstrode." She hissed shaking my hand for one second then dropping it.

"It's nice to meet you both, and trust me, though you probably wont believe these words I am _nothing_ like my cousin." I said finally getting some truth off my chest. Millicent just continued to glare at me in a non-believing way while Tracey's look softened slightly. Finally I looked around the green decorated room and saw my trunk sat at the end of one of the beds. Daphne also looked around she saw her trunk on the other side of the room meaning Pansy must be in the bed next to me. Daphne looked to my completely panicked face and smiled sympathetically before walking over to Pansy's trunk and dragging it over to her bed swapping it for her own. Once I worked out what she was doing I helped her move the trunks, Tracey also helped with the second trunk whilst Millicent just stared at us all.

"Pansy won't like that." She growled Daphne just rolled her eyes as she placed her trunk back down throwing a smile in mine and Tracey's direction.

"Oh she'll never find out!" Daphne said brushing the thought off. "Where is she anyway?"

"She's arguing with Malfoy again." it was Tracey's timid voice that spoke this time and it was what she said that made me straighten up sharply. I realised this had gained me a look from Millicent so I acted like I had an itch and went to sit on my bed.

"Again? Jeez, why is she still with that prick?" Daphne said I suspiciously looked at her, I didn't know this side of Malfoy the side other people knew. "I thought she broke up with him after she found him making out with that slut at his?" I swiftly ducked my head into my trunk pretending to be searching for something but really hiding the deep blush that had come across my face.

"So did we, turns out he talked her around, _again_." Millicent spoke this time I could tell she had noted my unusual behaviour. "Have you introduced Potter to Malfoy yet Greengrass?" She asked Daphne shook her head as I delved deeper into my trunk, practically the entire top half of my body inside it now.

"Ah no not yet, we just head straight here after dinner, you're the first two Slytherins she's met." Daphne explained.

"Ah, probably a nice change from those half-bloods you've been hanging around with eh Potter?" Millicent actually conversed with me directly.

"M-yeah." I mumbled out from inside the trunk, which must have just sounded like a noise to them.

"Well you don't want to meet this Slytherin, Katrina." I heard Daphne's voice say, finally I felt it was safe to get out of the trunk so I grabbed a random book and my pyjamas and stood up looking at Daphne who was sat back on her bed. I joined her in the position sitting on my bed with my back to the head board and my book and pyjamas in my lap. "He's a total dirt bag. He's horrible to all of us and the worst to Pansy who just down right adores him." She explained I nodded not wanting to have this conversation

"Sounds like a prick." I said Daphne nodded. "Where do I change?" I asked trying to change the subject.

"Oh just out side the door, go left and walk all the way down and there's a whole bathroom." Daphne explained, as I walked out I heard her start to continue her conversation about Draco. I walked down the hall and there was the door, I opened it to reveal a large area, as I walked in the first thing I saw was the row of sinks with mirrors above them but further down was a long line of showers. I shot into one of the cubicles opposite the sinks and swiftly changed into my pyjamas. I walked back out and back down the hallway my feet patting against the floor being the only noise I could hear. That was until I got closer to my room I heard a girl crying her eyes out inside and guessed Pansy was home I gulped wondering what Draco had told her. I didn't want to go in there unprepared I looked at the watch strapped to my wrist it was just gone 11pm. He couldn't be asleep I mean Pansy had only just come home from his room I looked at my door then at the stairway and back again biting my lip in confusion. I made my decision, I ran for the stairs uniform in hand and pyjamas on. I swiftly moved down the stairs and as I got to the bottom I peaked out to make sure there wasn't anyone in the common room when I confirmed to myself it was clear I sped across it hitting the stairs on the opposite wall in seconds. I ran up them, just assuming the two sides were the same and as the fifth year girls were on the fifth floor I assumed the boys would also be on the fifth floor so I counted my way up and my bare feet quickly hit the carpeted floor of the fifth. I looked around as if thinking someone may have been about. I got to the door and started to realise what a silly mistake this may have been, the girls shared five to a room, so presumably so did the boys. If someone else answered I couldn't exactly ask for Draco, everyone thinks we don't know each other. I had come this far though so I couldn't exactly turn back now I gently knocked the door in hope all the other boys in his dorm might be asleep and wouldn't hear the door. The door flew open to reveal someone who wasn't Draco, when I didn't see those blonde locks my stomach twisted in fear. Luckily it wasn't Draco but it was still a face I recognised.

"Look Parkinson he doesn't want you-" Blaise Zabini cut himself off when he saw my smiling face. "Oh, Katrina." He said in shock, suddenly I heard a loud ruckus come from behind him inside the room.

"How are you?" Blaise said with a flirty grin "Nice pyjamas." I smiled at him as I glanced down at the silk pyjamas Narcissa had brought me.

"Thanks-" I was cut off by someone pulling Blaise out of the doorway, there sounded as though there was a small disagreement before Blaise came back to the door but before he could speak I asked "Is Draco there?" Blaise's face dropped to a sad look as he let the door roll open to reveal Draco stood there with his winning smirk on his face. Blaise walked back into the room and I smiled at his departing figure. My expression changed to a look of anger as Draco filled my eye sight, he frowned at me before looking back into the room and gently shutting the door now standing outside with me.

"Come for a late night snogging session Radcliff?" He whispered a wicked smirk coming to his lips.

"It's _Potter_ now remember? And no I haven't come for that." I growled just as quietly as he spoke so not to wake anyone who might be asleep. "What did you tell Pansy? I'm having to share a room with her you know?"

"Don't worry, she wont say anything." He mumbled looking slightly disappointed that she's the reason I'd come over.

"So you _told_ her?" I hissed he looked at me with slight guilt in his eyes as he nodded.

"What else could I tell her! She was seeing things back at the manor?" He growled back.

"Well I'm just pretty sure the Dark Lord wouldn't think much to your little _girlfriend_ knowing, or your father for that matter." I hissed turning to walk away and leave him with that fearful thought but before I could even get a step away Draco grabbed me from behind. He had one arm around my waist and the other around my neck with his wand pointed to my throat. His head was to the left of mine and I could feel his breath against my ear.

"Don't threaten me with things you don't even know about Radcliff, remember, I know your muggle secret." He whispered into my ear, the feel of his lips against my ear sending a shiver over my body. I felt his mouth twist into a smirk. "We'll have to have more of these meetings Radcliff, I'm growing to quite enjoy them." and with that he let me go disappering back into his room. I shook off the lingering feeling of his touch and ran back to my room. When I walked in all the other girls were asleep I quickly climbed into bed and tried to forget my tough first night at school.

I was woken up the next morning by female laughter. I opened my eyes regrettably remembering where I was. I sighed sitting up in bed and looking over to Daphne's empty bed. I rubbed my eyes and looked at were the laughter was coming from, my eyes landed on Daphne and Pansy, Tracey wasn't in the room and Millicent was still asleep. The two girls looked at me Daphne still had a smile on her face and Pansy had a slight glare in her eyes but quickly shook it off when Daphne started talking.

"Ah good Katrina you're awake!" she exclaimed walking over to my bed and sitting down on it. "I believe there's someone here you've yet to meet." She said, and as though she were on cue Pansy stepped forwards.

"Hi, I'm Pansy Parkinson, and I'm sorry for being rude the other night at dinner. It was just an instinct when the name Potter came up I supposed." She said a fake laugh leaving her lips, I decided fake kindness was probably better then none at all so I smiled back to her.

"I'm Katrina. You guys can call me Kat though." I smiled directing the end of my sentence more to Daphne who grinned at the pair of us.

"I explained to Pansy that you really weren't anything like your muggle-loving cousin." Daphne explained. "And now that I've sorted that lets go get you dressed so you can get your schedule from McGonagall." She said to me standing off the bed so I could climb out. I pulled out a fresh uniform and went to change.

Daphne had taken me all the way to McGonagall's room and told me she would wait outside for me, I knocked and was hailed in by a female voice. However when I walked in I saw someone I didn't expect to see with McGonagall, Professor Snape.

"Miss. Potter this is Professor Snape. He is our Potions master." She explained I walked further into the room heading towards the two Professors stood at the other end of the room.

"It's nice to meet you Professor." I smiled Snape's lips curled into what I assumed was a smile. I walked right up to the desk the two teachers were stood behind and McGonagall handed me a piece of paper. I took it and looked down to see a schedule of my week written on there.

"Now we don't want you to be overwhelmed when you go into your classes so for this week you will not be going by this schedule. Instead Snape and I will take it upon ourselves to help you after all classes are finished until dinner time at the end of every day." I nodded at them. "I hope you understand that we are taking quite special privileges here and if it hadn't been because of your cousin we probably wouldn't have allowed this to happen." She explained I nodded again this time a bit more sheepishly, I felt a little bad that I had to make them go out of their way.

"Thank you very much professors." I smiled.

"So tonight at 4pm I want to see you in my room. Four on the dot please Potter." Snape spoke up for the first time since I'd walked in. "My room is in the dungeons, I hope you will take all this spare time this week to try and revise this place so you will know some of the hallways as well as your friends. We don't want you having to have a constant escort." I nodded.

"Understandable Professors."

"You may leave now Potter. I will see you tomorrow night at four." McGonagall smiled I nodded at them both.

"Thank you again Professors." And with that I walked back out of the room. Daphne was quick to my side.

"What happened?" She asked

"I haven't got lessons all this week so that McGonagall and Snape can help me adapt in the evenings." When the words left my mouth Daphne gasped.

"Lucky cow! I want a week off. Although, to spend my evenings with Snape and McGonagall? Yeah, I don't envy you there." She said, the two of us heading for the grand hall.

"What? Why! What's wrong with them?" I questioned all at once, Daphne laughed as I tried to turn the wrong way in all my confusion.

"Well, Snape adores Slytherin it is his house after all, so to make up for this McGonagall tends to favour Gryffindor so you'll have a tough change from the get go with her, being in the house you're in." She explained pulling me towards the large doors of the great hall.

"And Snape? Surely if he favours Slytherins I'm okay?" I asked confused.

"Well you would be if it wasn't for that damn last name of yours. It's a well known fact that Snape _hates_ Harry Potter. So you might have some difficulties there." She said before laughing at the very worried look on my face. "You'll be fine I'm sure." She said as we approached the doors.

"Oh I'm feeling so reassured." I said sarcastically, the pair of us started laugh as Daphne pushed the doors to the great hall open. My eyes landed on the Gryffindor table only to make eye contact with my cousin, who did not look pleased that I was having such a good time with a Slytherin. I made a reminder to myself to ask Daphne why there was such a hatred between the two houses.

"Oh god, looks like you're finally going to meet the infamous Malfoy." Daphne mumbled forcing me to drag my eyes away from Harry on to the green table. My eyes landed on were Daphne was pulling me to, only to see that Pansy and the other two girls were sat with Draco, Blaise and two other boys I didn't know. I laughed at Daphne's comment only after receiving a bit of a confused look from her did I realise I'd left it a little too long to laugh at it. Daphne sat down with me beside her so we were between Blaise, who was on my side and Tracey who was on Daphne's side.

"Greengrass." Blaise said in greeting to Daphne. I smiled at him. "K-" He was cut off by a sharp kick from Draco who was sat opposite me. To cover up his pain Blaise pretended to cough. I stared at him with wide eyes before looking up at Draco, who had a miserably pathetic looking Pansy gripped on to his arm throwing me a look of death.

"Zabini, Malfoy." Daphne said. "This is my friend Katrina Potter, either of you two shits give her any grief for her cousin and I'll hex you both." She growled almost instantly at her, gaining her another thankful look from me.

"Oh Greengrass, why say it? You know I'm only going to do it anyway." Draco taunted, I rolled my eyes at him and he smirked at me. "How does it feel being related to the _chosen one_ anyway?" He growled at me, I narrowed my eyes at him.

"I imagine it's not half as painful as a punch in the face would be... _Malfoy._" I growled back at him, a snicker coming from my side and a glare shooting across at me from Pansy. Draco just smirked at the feisty ways he knew oh too well from me.

"Don't go getting all muggle on me Ra—" It was Draco's turn for a kick to the shins. He winced and glared at me, I just shot him a warning stare and we continued with breakfast with Daphne shooting us all some suspicious stares. At the end of breakfast with everyone leaving for their lessons I didn't know what to do, but with Snape sat the the teachers table glaring at me I felt that sitting in the dining hall all day was not a good idea. I stood up with Daphne and the rest and when we got to the doors of the hall Daphne looked at me with a small sad pout.

"See you at lunch! Try not to get too lost okay?" She said giving me a wave I smiled at her and nodded waving back. I felt someone purposely bang shoulders with me and when I heard his voice I knew who it was.

"Have fun Radcliff." Draco hissed at me. I just threw him a glare before spinning on my heel deciding heading in whichever way Draco wasn't was probably a good start to my day. However I span right into a brown haired boy, colliding with him I was quick to apologise.

"Oh I'm so sorry, I wasn't loo—" But I was cut off by a thick Irish accent.

"Oh getting an apology off a Slytherin! Thought I'd never see the day!" The boy stood next to Harry, who I'd accidentally crashed into, said. A sneer grew on my lips.

"This is my cousin Seamus." Harry growled, partly being protective partly probably because I was in Slytherin and I _was_ his cousin.

"She's still a Slytherin!" Seamus blurted a sneer directed at me on his lips.

"Bog off Seamus!" Ron chirped in coming up from behind the three of us. "I'm sure she's getting enough stick from her own house, she doesn't need it from us!" He growled, Seamus, seemingly upset over the boys protectiveness of me, stormed away.

"I'll leave you two to it then." Ron mumbled after a few seconds of silence. He quickly moved on catching up with Hermione. There was more awkward silence before I cleared my throat.

"What have you got first?" I asked my voice quivering slightly thanks to my nerves.

"Potions." He grumbled back to me, I wasn't entirely sure he actually wanted me there but I figured we couldn't avoid each other forever.

"Oh, mind if I walk with you? I need to learn the way before tonight anyway." I smiled at him, he just shrugged to me.

"Sure." He bluntly agreed. We started to walk towards the stairs heading down to the dungeons.

"So..." I started awkwardly. "What's the deal with this open hated between houses?" I got straight to the point with a feeble laugh.

"Not all houses. Just Gryffindor and Slytherin." He said.

"Oh..." I nodded mentally remembering that fact. "Okay... Well what's the problem then?"

"The problem Katrina is that I cannot name a single wizard that I know that has been in Slytherin and _not_ become a death eater!" He growled. "Hell Voldermort himself was in Slytherin in his youth! That is proof enough to me that anyone in that house is not trustworthy!" He was yelling slightly now, my eyes narrowed, what was he trying to insinuate!

"Well Harry Potter there is always a first time for everything!" I growled, defending my innocence. His face softened as he looked into my serious face a faint shadow of a smile passed his lips as he looked to his moving feet. We continued walking in silence for a second while I thought everything over. Finally I spoke. "Was Voldermort really in my house?" I asked a little frightened. This time Harry allowed the smile that was playing on his lips to come.

"It's sad you know, cause I really think I would have liked you. You're ditsy way is kinda funny." He smiled "And you've definitely hit a cord with the Weasley twins, those boys love you." I laughed allowing a blush to come to my cheeks. We finally got to the Potions room, there was a long queue of students stood outside including Draco and most of my Slytherin friends but also including Hermione, Neville and Ron. The two groups of different houses both looked over to me and Harry when we arrived stood away from the queue Harry continued our conversation. "Unfortunately, just out of instinct I know not to trust a Slytherin. Past experience has taught me a lot." He growled glaring over to Draco. "Just... I don't know..." He sighed "Just give me a little while, I'll come around." He said this brought a smile to my lips. "Do me a favour though?"

"Yes, sure, anything." I said, just happy he wasn't going to hate me forever.

"Don't chum up to Malfoy too much. It's hard enough for me to accept you as a Slytherin, let alone accept you as _his_ friend." As Harry said this I had glanced over to Draco and the Slytherins, Draco just kept a smirk on at me. Daphne gave me a swift wave, I smiled at her before looking back to Harry.

"No problem, the boy is a prick!" I spoke making Harry laugh and nod.

"He really is." And with that Snape came out of his room with a swiftness I had only seen from him.

"Potter, that does not look like a orderly queue." He growled to Harry who slowly moved from his place with me over to Ron and Hermione. "And Miss. Potter..." Snape started on me, I looked at him with a smile. "Standing outside my classroom is not going to teach you much about the school now is it?" He sarcastically growled.

"No it sure is not sir." I said quickly spinning around and rushing off in the opposite direction and turning left down a corridor that turned out to be a dead end. I span back round walking back past the hallway that Snape and the others were down, I looked down it and waved walking down a different hallway receiving several giggles.

"Ten galleons that girl doesn't make it to lunch cause she's lost on the moving staircase." Daphne said letting out a brief laugh.


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: I would like to thank xXMizz Alec VolturiXx and ireallyamtellingthetruth for all the wonderful reviews. You two are diamonds! Thank you! :) We're at 10 already? Gosh, thanks everyone for reading, I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**10.**

Harry walked into his class beside Ron, he sat down next to his red headed friend as the rest of the class piled in. Potions with the Slytherins was always a tough one.

"Having family troubles Potter?" Harry heard the narcissistic voice of Draco Malfoy ring in his ears. He shot his head round to look at Malfoy sat two tables behind him.

"It's none of your business Malfoy!" Harry growled turning back to the front as Snape continued to be stood outside waiting for the rest of the class to make their way in.

"Oh but I think it is, you see your cousin is in _my_ house. She's a fellow Slytherin, and as the Slytherin _Prefect_ I feel it's my right to know about all of my fellow Slytherins." He hissed Harry's fist clenched and Ron looked over a little worried at his friend.

"Just ignore him Harry. Katrina knows better then to go near a freak like him." Ron whispered to his friend, Harry nodded. Malfoy took a quick glance behind him to see Snape was starting to head into the room again.

"You know Potter your cousin's pretty damn hot, I might even invite her to _my_ bedroom tonight." With this Harry span his head back around.

"Shut the hell up Malfoy!" Harry growled at him, while looking back Harry also noticed the death glare Malfoy was receiving off Pansy Parkinson. "Doesn't look like your girlfriend is too fond of that plan." Harry smirked as Malfoys slightly worried face turned to look at Pansy behind him.

"Potter! We have already had enough excitement in this class thanks to your cousin we do not need any more from you." Snape growled Harry's head shot back around to look at Snape, he glared at him.

"Actually sir, I think you'll find my cousin was causing excitement in the hallway _not_ this classroom." Harry said sarcastically, gaining a few laughs from the Gryffindors Snape's eyes narrowed at him.

"I suggest you close that smart mouth of yours Potter before you join your cousin in this classroom tonight for a detention." He growled, but it was too late Harry already felt very smug.

The potions class flew for Harry and when it was finished he was swiftly bombarded by questions from Hermione.

"What did she have to say for herself then?" Hermione hissed quickly, clearly the thought had been in her head the entire lesson. Harry sighed at her.

"I wish you wouldn't take that tone, she _is_ my cousin." He said tiredly as though him and Hermione had been through this conversation over a million times already.

"And she _is_ a Slytherin. Did you tell her you couldn't name a _good_ Slytherin?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, yeah I definitely said that." Harry explained Hermione stood there staring at him for a moment as though he was dumb.

"And?" She finally squealed.

"And she said there is a first time for everything." Harry said, Ron smiled at Katrina's obviously quick comeback. Hermione however seemed much less enthusiastic about Harry's cousins reply as she sighed.

"Well that's not much to trust her on is it!" Hermione hissed.

"What on earth do you expect from the girl Hermione? Want her to give us some blood? We'll all see if we can see the evil in it shall we?" Ron growled sarcastically "She isn't exactly going to run around flashing her dark mark everywhere if she is bad! This is just the sort of thing that only time will tell." He defended Katrina. Hermione just glared at him before sighing impatiently, she crossed her arms over her chest gripping the books she had held to them closer to her. The three walked in silence for a few minutes before Hermione piped up again.

"I'm going to go back to the library at lunch and see if I can find anything on your aunt and uncle again." The two boys sighed at her as they all arrived at their next class.

Daphne's bet had been half right I was lost by, what I assumed was probably lunch time, judging by the roaring coming from my stomach, I cursed myself for not wearing my watch today. I wasn't on the moving staircase though no, I'd been wise and decided to avoid that particular part of the castle knowing it probably wasn't a great idea for me, a very unknowing witch, to be wandering around on them. However instead the seventh floor had become quite the task for me to negotiate. I glared around at the walls as if blaming them for their likeness to all other walls in the castle. I continued on coming across yet another staircase, I decided not to go up these though as the last set I'd decided to venture up had led me to a class room filled with some very smug looking third years and a bewildered looking teacher who had been no help in finding my way to the grand hall as she seemed to be talking in riddles. I just huffed crossing my arms over my chest as I continued down the hallway.

"Are you lost dear?" I heard a light feminine voice ask, it forced me to stop in my tracks. I scowled around the area unsure who had spoken when realising that there wasn't anyone around I decided that being lost for so long had finally turned me insane and went to walk on.

"Over here lovey." I heard the voice again coming from my left, my head shot around and finally landed a painting a a rather large woman, she was waving at me with a smile on her face. I screamed at her backing into the wall behind me, which knocked some other pictures, these let out many groans and cries of anger at me. I gasped at them as well backing off.

"Ah, you must be new here, yes all the paintings talk here dear." The fat lady spoke again. I stared wide eyed at her.

"Bu-but you're just pictures?" I squealed, she seemed to take some offence to this as her smile changed to a glare.

"We aren't _just _pictures dear! We are magical pictures!" A snooty look appeared on her lips. "Much better then your boring still _muggle_ paintings!" I rolled my eyes, I was becoming quite sick of the word muggle.

"I don't know you seem a lot more pedantic to me!" I growled. "I can't imagine the Mona Lisa would be quite as famous if she had an attitude like yours." the fat lady scoffed.

"Ha! That painting has nothing on me!" She said smugly, "Besides this is all coming from a girl who is lost in a _magical_ school? This place is full of helpful hints to finding your way back." Her smug tone made me glare at her.

"Pfft I'd like to see you find your way out of that painting!" I growled, she just smirked at me and suddenly she swung towards me. I screamed falling backwards into the wall again and throwing my arms over my face ready to defend myself from the painting.

"Katrina?" I heard a male voice this time making me open one of my eyes to look at him. Harry was stood there in place of the painting that had been there before he was stood in the opening to a room. I allowed my arms to drop and stared at him in shock.

"I-You-What?" I said all at once, Harry just eye balled me suspiciously.

"Why are you standing outside the Gryffindor common room?" He asked, I looked at him in shock.

"You mean behind that rude painting is the common room?" I asked, Harry stepped out of the hole and allowed the portrait of the fat lady to swing back into place. The large woman was now cackling at me, I glared at her as I started walking away with Harry who also had a grin on his face.

"It doesn't look like you're making friends with the paintings Katrina." He laughed out.

"Well, they're not exactly works of art themselves are they!" I hissed out gaining a yell off of one of the passing paintings. "I'm glad you're here actually-"

"You're lost?" Harry cut me off with a very good guess at the truth.

"Yes." I said shamefully. "Help me, I'm starving!" Harry started laughing

"It's well gone lunchtime Katrina!" He told me, my jaw dropped. "It's closer to dinner! I've just finished my last lesson."

"WHAT!" I squealed. "So what's the time?" Harry looked down at his watch.

"Erm, just gone four." He explained that nervous pang came in my stomach again.

"Uh oh." I mumbled. "I was supposed to be at my first lesson at four." Harry clearly couldn't help but let out a laugh at my dismay.

"Who's it with?" He asked through his laughter.

"Snape." I said bluntly, Harry's laughter stopped.

"Oh, wow, you're in trouble. Here I'll take you to his classroom." He said rushing ahead I followed behind. In all the laughter and the fun Harry had seemingly forgotten about being unhappy with me. He smiled at me looking at me properly for a second, I frowned when his smile dropped at something he was staring at on my uniform. I looked down to see him staring at my green tie, I winced slightly and looked back up at him only to see that his eyes were now staring forward with a cold look in them.

"So how angry is Snape going to be with me when I get there then?" I laughed trying to change the subject.

"Probably not that mad, he's biased to Slytherins." Damn, I walked into that one. Harry's cold words cut me like a knife. "What was all that about yesterday at dinner anyway? Parkinson and Malfoy already arguing over you?" Harry growled. I looked at him confused for a second before I realised what he meant.

"Oh, urm, no, Daphne said it was apparently just because Pansy didn't like the idea of a Potter being her new room mate." I lied.

"Oh, so you're on first name basis with Parkinson now eh? Soon you'll be making Hogsmeade trips with Malfoy!" Harry spat venom, I just glared at him.

"Harry please-"

"Here's the class room Katrina." He cut me off pointing to the door we'd arrived at. "You wouldn't want to be any later then you already are, your pals in Slytherin wont be too happy with you knocking off house points for tardiness." And with that Harry stormed off in the other direction. I sighed and walked into Snape's room, he glared up at me.

"15 minutes late, you are daring Miss. Potter." Snape hissed.

"I'm sorry sir I was lost." I explained Snape's eyes locked with mine for a moment before he seemed happy that I was in fact telling the truth.

"Sit please Miss. Potter." I quickly moved into the room and sat down in the seat nearest him. "Due to our different teaching styles Mrs. McGonagall and I have decided I will teach you the basic know how on potions and other such alchemy based topics while Mrs. McGonagall will teach you the basics in charms and spells." He explained, my jaw dropped slightly and I nodded, quite excited to learn about magic.

"Now, I know about your... mission shall we say? So I am going to try and teach you some potions that will help you to succeed in your plans." He explained, my eyes grew wide as I stared at the very serious teacher. He had been the first person to really mention the plans and it had made me nervous, I had almost forgotten about my murderous task. Snape placed a silver cauldron down in front of me.

"First you will be creating Fatiguing Fusion, this is a potion which causes fatigue and then I will be getting you to create Chelidonium Miniscula. This is a very, very difficult potion which is a mild sedative. These two potions will be a last resort, if you cannot get Potter to come with you without the help of these potions then we will use them." Snape explained, I nodded as he explained to me the ingredients to get for the Fatiguing Fusion. After a couple of hours I sighed at another failed attempt.

"No, no Potter! The texture needs to be thicker and it must be emitting _green_ smoke not yellow!" Snape sneered as he took a whiff of the pungent potion. He sighed also "Though you may be closer with this one, at least it didn't erode my cauldron like the last." Snape sneered over to the half destroyed cauldron.

"I am trying my hardest sir!" I growled.

"Obviously it is not hard enough!" Snape hissed and we shared a glaring stare for a moment before I looked away. "It is almost dinner time, it would probably be best for you to leave now, we will continue this on Wednesday." Snape hissed I nodded picking up my stuff and left. When I walked out of the room, slight anger coming out in me by slamming the door. I looked up to see the last person I had expected to see waiting for me. Pansy Parkinson.

"Pansy." I said a little shocked as I turned left heading to dinner.

"The great hall is this way." She said I turned a complete one hundred and eighty degrees and started walking in the opposite direction. Pansy beside me.

"Look Potter, we are sharing a room so I can't exactly ignore you for the next year or however long you plan to be here." She hissed.

"Really? I thought that was your grand scheme?" I said sarcastically, she just glared at me.

"I know why you're here now and the only reason I haven't ratted you out is because I'd rather not be killed by You-Know-Who. However, you go anywhere near Draco and I will kill you myself." She growled I rolled my eyes.

"Don't worry Pansy I've already been warned off of him by my cousin, and trust me I care more about what he thinks of me then what you do." Pansy eyed me for a moment and looked like she was going to ask something but it obviously wasn't important enough as she let her face drop back to a glare.

"Well good, I suppose we can be... Acquaintances then, but don't expect me to run around calling you 'Kat'" She hissed, I just let out a laugh.

"Don't worry, I've come to learn that a Slytherins common courtesy is to _always_ call a good friend by their last name." I smirked Pansy let out a laugh as we head towards the hall and for maybe the first time today I felt like I was getting somewhere with something that was wrong in my life. That was until I walked into the hall laughing with Pansy Parkinson and I realised that Harry's eyes were on us with a _very_ unhappy look on his face. My smile dropped as I swiftly found my place next to Daphne and tried to hide my face as much as possible.

For once I had eaten my entire dinner, I had a feeling this was probably due to the fact that I missed my lunch. I stood with the rest of the Slytherins when I had finished and walked out with Daphne we were chatting and laughing about her day when we got to the doors of the great hall. I suddenly felt a great shove as someone pushed past me almost knocking me down I glared over to see a younger ginger haired girl glare over her shoulder at me.

"Piss off Weasley!" Daphne yelled towards the disappearing figure of the girl.

"Who the hell was that?" I growled pulling my bag back on to my shoulder.

"That was Ginny Weasley, the only girl of the Weasley lot. Bunch of muggle-loving blood traitors if you ask me." Daphne said with a sneer.

"What on earth is her problem with me?" I squealed confused. Daphne shrugged.

"No idea, rumour is she's got a thing with your cousin. Maybe she's pissed at you for being in Slytherin too?" I glared in the direction the girl had disappeared in.

"Probably." I said continuing towards the dungeons with Daphne.

I sat in the common room for the first time since being at the school with Daphne, Tracey and Pansy. Millicent had gone upstairs almost instantly claiming some revision that she had to get done. I sat in the chair nearest the fire with it warming my skin as I stared at the windows which showed the lake outside.

"So what did you get up to while lost in the castle anyway Kat?" Tracey asked from Daphne's lap, they were both sat on the large couch Daphne sat up with Tracey laying down her head in Daphne's lap.

"I had an argument with a painting." I said quite seriously causing the girls to laugh, I even managed to get a smile out of Pansy.

"What? Which one?" Daphne asked through her laughs.

"The Gryffindor one, that stupid fat bitch!" I hissed causing roars of laughter this time from all three girls, Pansy seeming to forget her resentment towards me when hearing such humorous things.

"Ha-ha oh that is brilliant, I mean fair enough a Slytherin fighting with an Gryffindor in their first day, but fighting with their common room painting. That is just priceless! I wish I'd been there to see it." Daphne laughed. I let out a light laugh at this before fidgeting in my seat so I was sat across it, my legs dangling from one side of it. Finally I felt comfortable with a group of people in this completely foreign environment. Suddenly Blaise appeared at the bottom of the boys dormitories stairs.

"Ladies." He grinned to us all.

"Zabini." Daphne replied, I looked at him with a smile.

"Blaise." I said, sounding slightly happier to see him then Daphne. This gained me a suspicious look from her but she seemed to quickly brush it off.

"Katrina." He said moving over to sit on my chair with me, I moved my legs so I was sat completely curled in the chair and he sat on the arm looking at me. He sat there for a moment and Daphne soon made her own conversation with the other two girls. Pansy was nodding away to what she was saying when Blaise discreetly dropped a note into my lap. I furrowed my brow at him, and he glanced from me to Pansy then back.

"Read it discreetly." He whispered. I nodded and opened the note.

'Radcliff, come upstairs with Blaise. I want to talk to you.' Is all the note said, I recognised the writing from the notes I received when I was locked in the Malfoy manor. I also realised it was Draco from the use of 'Radcliff' I nodded at Blaise.

"Hey Katrina, want to come check out my bedroom with me?" Blaise said with a wink, gaining the other three girls attention. They all stared at me in slight shock at the slightly obvious invite. I let out a laugh at the way Blaise was trying to make it sound like there was a sexual hidden meaning behind the invite.

"Sure." I smiled as Blaise helped me out of the chair and we started towards the staircase.

"I'll come too." Pansy said standing up "I want to see Draco anyway." Blaise stopped us and with great ease, as though he had been told what to do should this happen, said.

"No Pansy if you don't mind I'd quite like to be _alone_ with Katrina. Besides nobody's up there, I'm pretty sure Malfoy is at the library." Pansy frowned.

"But he didn't say anything to me-" Blaise cut her off.

"Maybe that's because you're _not_ together any more, I doubt he thinks he needs to inform his ex girlfriend of all his moves." Blaise hissed causing the two girls who were still sat down to snicker and Pansy's face to turn a great pink colour before she let out a squeal of frustration and stormed off toward the exit of the common room obviously going to find Draco. Quickly Blaise pulled me upstairs, we rushed to the fifth floor and Blaise walked into the door of the room I had knocked on just the night before. I heard his and Draco's conversation.

"You don't have long, Parkinson did just what you thought she would, she just left for the library." Blaise explained.

"Cheers Zabini." Suddenly Draco appeared at the doorway, he closed the door behind him so the two of us were stood in the fifth floor hallway.

"Radcliff." He said, I looked at him for a while.

"Draco...?" I questioned he just smirked I sighed, "You heard Blaise, we don't have long." His smirk dropped slightly as he looked toward the stairs.

"My father sent me an owl. He informed me that we have until the end of the year to get Potter to the point of believing you. He also wanted me to ask you if Potter has had any suspicions yet?" He asked I nodded

"Well he's not happy about the fact I'm in Slytherin, he said he can't name anyone who's come out of Slytherin and _not_ been a Death Eater. Also he keeps mentioning his God father? Sirius I think he said his name was?"

"Yeah, Sirius Black." Draco informed me I just nodded. "His own brother was in Slytherin so you could always try that one against him. I'll send my father an owl with the information and see what he has to say." He finished I smiled.

"That all you wanted Draco?" I asked turning back to the stairs, my back away from him. I heard him move almost instantly but I remained with my back to him, a light smirk on my lips.

"Well actually," I heard him say from behind me, he was close. "There was something else." I felt a smile come to my lips.

"Oh?" I motioned for him to go on turning my head to the left slightly as if to motion him to move closer. He did and now I felt his body against mine I bit my bottom lip as I felt his breath against my ear.

"I heard that Potter has _banned_ you from me." He stepped closer, I felt his chest rising against my back and lightly pushed back into him. "Apparently he isn't fond of the idea of me and you being _close_." He whispered right into my ear, I felt a tingle rush over my body. His hand slipped to my waist gently resting there I felt my excitement grow at his touch.

"I've heard some things about you too." I flirtatiously said back to him.

"Oh?" He asked I slowly turned to face him, staying as close as we were. Our faces just inches from each other, his grey eyes looked down into my green ones and I smirked.

"I've heard you and Pansy aren't together any more?" I said, a smirk rose to his lips.

"You've heard the truth, we broke up on the first night here." He explained.

"So then why has she also warned me off of you?" I smirked, he looked to the side his smirk growing wider, his eyes met mine once more.

"It seems our relationship is pretty forbidden." He whispered his smirk dropping as his eyes slipped from my eyes on to my lips. The smirk also left my face as I felt myself slowing moving to my tip toes to move my lips closer to Draco's.

"It seems it is." I whispered out. Draco's hand now moving from my side to my lower back as he sharply pulled me in our lips touched. My hands moved up and ran through Draco's hair as he deepened the kiss I moaned into his kiss, his hand slipping on to my butt and tightly gripping hold of it. I pulled away kissing down his neck, I heard him gasp out a smirk rose to his lips.

"Imagine if Potter could see you now." He whispered making me stop, he seemed slightly shocked by my sudden pause.

"What did you just say?" I growled.

"I said Imagine-" I cut him off

"Oh no I heard you Draco." I stood up straight stepping away from him. "I was just hoping you would have thought your comment through by now and would be taking it back."

Draco just laughed. "Why would I take it back?"

"Is that all you wanted me here for? Try and get me into the sack so I could be a pawn in yours and Harry's sick little war you have going on?" He went to speak but I moved to the other side of the hallway laughing spitefully.

"That's all it is isn't it! You just want me so you can have yet another thing to hold over his head! Oh I should have guessed! All the warnings I've had about you and I've only been here a day!"

"Radcliff you are being ridiculous!" He growled "Besides, you're a _Potter_ do you not think I should be careful too? Not to mention the fact you're so non-magical you're practically a muggle!" He hissed, I glared at him.

"I'm sick of that fucking word! You call me that again and I swear I will break your pretty little face!" I growled at him my fists clenching, just as Draco went to yell back at me a third persons appearance in the hallway made him stop in his tracks. I turned to see Pansy Parkinson stood there looking suspiciously as us.

"Pansy, I was just telling Draco to get back down to the library, you two must have missed each other." I lied quickly a smile coming to my lips as I looked at her, she seemed happy enough with that lie as she nodded. Draco just smirked at me.

"Yeah, I was just about to head down there." He lied too.

"Oh good cause I actually wanted to talk to you Draco." She said, he looked at her only remotely intrigued but her eyes landed on me. "Would you mind giving us some privacy please Potter?"

"Oh sure, of course, I need to be getting back to Blaise anyway." I said, Draco threw a slightly shocked and angry look my way. I just smirked at him. "You two have fun." and with that I turned and knocked on the door of the boys room. Blaise was quick to open it, telling me he had probably been stood listening for the whole time, he grabbed my wrist and without saying anything pulled me in, quickly closing the door behind me. He put his finger to his mouth in a motion to hush me and pointed to something he had in his hand, it looked like a ear attached by a fleshy skin like texture to another ear which he had put on the floor right next to the gap in the door.

"What is it Parkinson?" I heard Draco hiss from the ear in Blaise's hand, I grinned and moved closer to the ear.

"Don't call me that, you only ever call me that after you've been around _her_." I heard Pansy's high pitched voice hiss.

"Oh what a surprise, another argument about Potter. Please Parkinson come to me when you have something important to say." Me and Blaise heard Draco walk towards the door, I bounced back but realised that I was in a room full of sleeping boys so decided bouncing around probably wasn't a smart idea. Luckily Blaise quickly called me back.

"Draco wait!" I heard Pansy yell, I swiftly moved back over to the ear. "I-I wanted to ask you to give me another chance? Please? I've missed you." She practically whispered the last part.

"Hm," I heard Draco move away from the door probably over to Pansy "Maybe I should, after all you're not _that_ bad in the sack." He hissed, my eyes narrowed. I was fuming that he had just made out with me and now was practically taking her back right in the same corridor. Then I heard something, something that made my blood boil in anger, a _moan_ Pansy _moaned_. They were kissing! Just after he had been out there with me! I couldn't help myself, my anger had built to boiling point. Before I knew what I was doing I threw the door open and glared at the two who had obviously just pulled away from each other.

"Oh sorry! Am I interrupting? I'm just passing through, just ignore me." I hissed storming past the couple and rushing down the stairs, I had no idea why I was so angry. I hated this feeling, and I didn't want to admit it to myself but I was actually _jealous_.


	11. Chapter 11

**11.**

The next week passed pretty swiftly, every other night I had Snape teaching me how to destroy my cousin's life while the next day I had McGonagall actually teaching me some magic. There wasn't that much attention landing on me, luckily this new teacher was getting a lot of hype for her crazy teaching style or something. I'd been avoiding Draco and Harry quite successfully and even was coming to learn my way around the hallways. I was sat in the common room with Daphne just after our Sunday dinner. I had my head stuck in a book, learning up as I was quite nervous for my first actual lesson while Daphne was determinedly scribbling on some parchment catching up on some Charms homework she had yet to finish. I glanced up at her with a light laugh at her messy hair and tired eyes.

"Stupid Charms." She mumbled under her breath, I was reading up on some Herbology as it had been a subject that wasn't really covered by Snape or McGonagall. "Charms is stupid you know that? It's so hard!" Daphne squealed.

"I know, you told me last night when you started that essay." I smiled at her.

"Yeah well it hasn't got any easier in case you were wondering." She huffed, Charms was apparently not her strong point.

"Well thanks for clearing that up for me Daph. I was actually just wondering to myself if Charms had got any easier in a days time." Tracey laughed at my sarcasm from across the room, she was playing wizard chess with Millicent. Daphne just looked up at me with a mock laugh on her face. Just as I laughed at her Draco and Pansy walked in the room, Draco coming in from his prefect duty's. He had obviously met Pansy and the others at the grand hall as the rest of the boys walked in slowly after the couple. They all scattered themselves around the common room, Draco and Pansy in the corner sitting on the same chair as each other, there was no shock that Draco had chose the chair directly in my eye line ever since my little show of jealousy Draco had decided to make every opportunity of rubbing their relationship in my face. Crabbe and Goyle were stood by the two girls playing chess watching them play and Blaise had come over to sit beside Daphne on the sofa but so he was nearest to me as I was sat in the single chair beside the couch. I shifted my weight in my seat so that I wasn't facing Draco and Pansy and instead was looking more towards Blaise.

"Herbology Katrina? Really?" He laughed at my choice of revision.

"Well I haven't really heard much about it in my lessons with Snape and McGonagall." I explained, Blaise smirked.

"Well it's not that interesting, trust me, the funniest parts of the lessons are when the plants attack other students. That's pretty funny." He laughed, I just gulped, knowing my luck I would end up being that 'other student'. As I sat in worry over plants attacking me in Herbology the door to the common room opened. The noise made a few of us look up, me and Blaise being two of the people to look up and see a tall Slytherin boy walk in. Blaise stood up and rushed over to the boy.

"Oi Nott!" He called to him, I found my eyes lingering on the tall boy, a rush of red hitting my cheeks. He was slightly skinny but had a gorgeous pair of blue eyes and sandy brown hair, plus a smile that was to die for. Although there was no smile on his lips at the moment as he stared at Blaise, no I'd been checking this boy out for the past week. I'd only starting noticing him in the past few days and I'd caught him laughing at one of Draco's jokes aimed at Hermione which is when I saw that gorgeous smile of his. I bounded on to the sofa beside Daphne, but even my slim frame practically jumping on to her didn't disrupt her from her parchment.

"Daphneee." I whispered in a sing song tone. "Daaaphneeeee." I sang again she finally took her weary eyes off her parchment.

"Yes Katrina?" She hissed obviously annoyed I'd distracted her from her work.

"Who's that?" I whispered pulling my face into her lap so that I was looking just over the arm at the boy stood with Blaise and so I could rest my arms on her legs.

"Who!" She whispered suddenly, excited that I was interested in someone. I pointed at the guy.

"The guy with Blaise." I whispered back, my eyes still lingering on his pretty face.

"Nott?" She laughed out. "That's Theodore Nott."

"Oh, and what's he like?" I asked curiously.

"Why all the questions Kat? Is there some interest?" She giggled. "He's so skinny, and he has buck teeth! He looks like a rabbit!" I scowled at her.

"Skinny isn't so bad, and I happen to think he has a beautiful smile." I grinned foolishly at her.

"Well he's a bit of a loner, never been one to join Malfoy goons." She explained.

"Well that's always a good thing." I nodded and she laughed and nodded in agreement, Blaise finally stopped talking to Theodore and he disappeared upstairs. My interest in my book suddenly came back as I laid down on Daphne's lap, and held my book in the air above me to read it. She had become too distracted by a conversation with Blaise to continue finishing her essay.

The next day I was the first up of all the girls, I got out of bed and got ready the excitement of learning magic coming over me today in stead of the nervousness I had the night before. I was quick to get changed and showered and when I walked back into the room I found that only Millicent had awoken, I gave her a swift nod in greeting and decided that I didn't want to wait for Daphne to wake up with Millicent about so I dropped in my clothes and left. I head towards the opening to the common room, as I came to the door I collided with someone knocking the book, that they had been too invested in to notice me, on to the floor.

"Oh I'm sorry I didn't see you!" I was quick to apologise even though it wasn't my fault, I knelt down and picked up the book, the boy just stood there still and when I stood back up to hand him his book I blushed to see those beautiful blue eyes and that smile.

"Why were you ever put in Slytherin? I think you're the first Slytherin I've ever met to apologise for something let alone something that wasn't even your fault." Theodore Nott laughed to me, I smiled back at him.

"Maybe I should have been put in Hufflepuff." I laughed he nodded.

"I'm Theodore Nott, and I'm sorry for walking into you, I didn't actually expect anyone else to be up this early, normally it's just me." He smiled lightly, I smiled back.

"There's no need to apologise I was rushing when I shouldn't have been anyway, it's nice to meet you Theodore, I'm Katrina Potter." I smiled his eyebrows raised when I gave my name.

"As in Harry Potter?" He asked, I frowned at him, he must have been the only person not to know about me and my cousin and to be honest I quite liked that.

"Yeah, I'm his cousin." I explained, with that his eyebrows raised even more. "I only started this year."

He nodded "Obviously I've spent far too much time in that library cause I'm clearly not in with the recent gossip" He laughed. I shook my head.

"Don't worry I'm quite glad to meet someone who doesn't already know who I am." I smiled, he just let out a half smile and nodded.

"Well, where were you rushing off to anyway? I'll walk you there? You can update me on the latest gossip." He grinned, I let out a small flirtatious laugh.

"I was actually going to the grand hall to get some breakfast." I nodded " You're welcome to join me." He smiled.

"I'd love to." And with that the two of us started walking out of the common room. We walked up to the grand hall together talking, mostly about me. He asked the question most Slytherins did, how Harry Potter's cousin ended up in Slytherin and I explained myself. As we sat down in the Grand Hall, we were some of the only people there so far, I realised that he wasn't as attractive as I had thought he was. He wasn't bad but he wasn't great, I carried on chatting to him as the two of us sat beside each other. The Grand Hall doors opened once more this time to reveal Draco and Blaise, Draco's eyes landed on me and Theodore and instantly his eyes grew into a scowl. The angry look on his face made me want to jump on Theodore right there just to wind Draco up. I smiled at Blaise who led Draco over to where me and Theodore were sitting.

"Hey Blaise." I smiled, he smiled back one of those classic smiles that had girls falling at his feet.

"Hey Katrina, Nott." He said sitting down next to me so I was sat between Blaise and Theodore. Draco sat opposite us all a glare still on his eyes but now he was staring at the table instead of me and Nott.

"Zabini, Malfoy." Theodore said in greeting to the two boys.

"Nott." Draco said through gritted teeth as his angry glare landed on me. "Potter." He spat out.

"Malfoy." I hissed just as aggressively, the other two boys obviously noticed the tension as Blaise cleared his throat before dragging Draco into a conversation about Quidditch, something I'd come to learn was a sport here at Hogwarts.

"Not a fan of Malfoy." Theodore whispered into my ear, a blush rose on my cheeks and Draco obviously noticed this as he stabbed his fork very stressfully into the table. I just smiled and glanced over to Theodore.

"Can you tell that so quickly?" I laughed and he just nodded, "It's a long story with me and him." I smiled at him looking into those bright blue eyes.

"You've got a beautiful smile Katrina." He commented, a blushed flushed my cheeks as I let out a girlish laugh and glanced away. My eyes landed on Draco, who was still looking at Blaise but he looked as though he was ready to kill somebody.

"Thank you Theodore." I smiled.

"Please call me Theo." He grinned and my smile grew a little, suddenly Draco butted into our conversation.

"So how long have you two known each other anyway? I've never seen you hanging around with Potter before Nott." He hissed, I glared over to him Theo just looked at him.

"We actually just met this morning, we accidentally bumped into each other in the common room." Theo explained.

"Aw, how romantic." Draco hissed sarcastically.

"Although it seems you've known her a lot longer Malfoy, you been hiding her from us Slytherins?" At this comment from Theo Draco's eyes looked to mine suspiciously, I knew he thought for that second that I'd told Theo where I'd been all summer. I just shook my head gently and his eyes narrowed at me.

"Yeah...-" Draco was cut off by the doors open, finally the rest of the Slytherin girls walked in and I came to notice that the hall was now quite full. The girls quickly came and sat down with the rest of us but Draco suspicious stare did not come off of me.

The Slytherins had History of Magic first with the Gryffindors, a subject that was apparently extremely boring. I was still looking forward to it though, I walked to the lesson with Daphne telling her all about mine and Theodore's interaction including Draco's interruption. She seemed excited for me for finally talking to Theodore. As we got to class my nerves started up again as my eyes landed on the three Gryffindors that were already stood waiting to go into class. Harry's eyes landed on me but I avoided his gaze, giving him the time he was asking for. The hushed tones between the three Gryffindors became silenced when the rather large group of Slytherins came. Me and Daphne stood closest to the three friends acting as a barrier from Draco and the others. Theodore came and stood beside me joining in mine and Daphne's conversation which had swiftly changed to something else when she caught him heading over. As the rest of the Gryffindors turned up they all took place with their friends at the front of the queue I glanced up at Neville and the sneering Seamus Finnigan and found myself a little disheartened.

"Keep pulling your face like that Finnigan and it'll get stuck that way." I heard Theodore hiss from beside me obviously sensing my sadness and sticking up for me.

"Sorry I got an awful smell of a traitor when I walked past 'er!" Seamus hissed motioning his head towards me I glared at him.

"Piss off Finnigan!" I growled at him. "You don't even know me!"

"I've 'eard enough 'bout you from the Gryffindor common room gossip and I know exactly what you are..." He hissed "Nothing but a no good traitor!" I shot a hurt look in the direction of Harry at his words but Harry just looked away. As I went to speak someone else spoke up instead, someone I didn't expect to.

"That's funny to hear coming from a blood traitor like you and your friends Finnigan!" Draco spat stepping forwards so he was stood beside me facing Seamus, a roar of laughter coming from the Slytherins at his words. This got most of the Gryffindors riled up and Ron stepped forwards beside his friend.

"Bog off Malfoy, it's got nothing to do with you." Ron growled, I looked between the two houses. Draco just sneered at them all.

"Like it has anything to do with you Weasley, you're nothing but-"

"STOP!" I yelled cutting Draco off and stepping between the two boys as both their fists clenched round their wands. "Stop it, all of you, I didn't want any of this. Just leave _my business_ alone!" I growled, the boys seemed to back down slightly and just in time too as suddenly the door to the class room swung open and the ghost I now knew as Professor Binns flew out. He did not seem to notice the very obvious tension between Ron and Draco who were still both stood facing each other with me in between them. As people starting filing into the room Hermione pulled a very reluctant Ron in and Draco soon followed the rest of the Slytherins. As everyone found their seats and the lesson started I discovered that History of Magic was easily one of my favourite subjects, though I felt it was probably due to the fact that I was new to everything. In fact when the lesson ended I turned to my left to tell Daphne about my excitement but she looked very unimpressed by the lesson so I decided it was probably not the best idea. So we left to our next class Potions also with the Gryffindors I had a feeling this tension wasn't going to leave any time soon.

The day went by just as tense as the first lesson had been, we had shared all but one lesson with the Gryffindors so far and we only had one lesson left after lunch which was Defence Against the Dark Arts.

"Yet again we share this lesson with the Gryffindors." Daphne explained to me. "'Cept DADA used to actually be fun, 'till this new teacher Umbridge took over, now all we do is sit around and read. Even the Gryffindors can't stand her, your cousin being one person she particularly despises." Daphne carried on explaining as we sat around finishing lunch she leant in to me glancing around at our peers. "She thinks all that stuff Potter's claiming about You-Know-Who is a lie and in our first lesson he mentioned it. He got a detention from her and from the rumours I've heard her detentions are no picnic." I became extremely interested at the mention of Voldermort, I stared deeply at Daphne as she explained everything to me.

"Do you think Harry's lying?" I asked Daphne just looked at me like I was foolish.

"Katrina, I _know_ he's telling the truth, if you catch my drift." She whispered. "My parents." She whispered again at my obviously clueless look, my eyes widened.

"Oh." I whispered, obviously Daphne's parents were Death Eaters, like Draco's, like my own. I sat in silence for a few minutes allowing everything I had just heard sink in.

"What does Umbridge do in her detentions?" I asked, Daphne looked at me.

"You noticed a lot of the students have their writing hands bandaged up? I don't know for sure but I reckon that must have something to do with it." She mumbled through some food. "Your cousins sporting one too." She said with a head nod towards the, now departing, back of Harry as he left the hall. I looked to his hand to see what she said was true, my eyes narrowed.

"I'll meet you at class okay?" I mumbled to Daphne, I didn't even wait for a reply as I shot off in the direction of Harry. I swiftly caught up to him as he was stood not far from the Grand Hall entrance chatting to friends, unfortunately he was surrounded by Gryffindors which was quite intimidating to me. The two twins were the first to notice my presence and they nudged Harry nodding over to me in unison, obviously noticing my wiriness to approach the group myself. I smiled at them briefly as Harry turned to me, he turned back said something then came over to me. As he left the crowd I also noticed that Fred and George's hands were bandaged I frowned as I saw light blood stains on their white bandages.

"Hello." Harry greeted me once he was close enough, I just frowned at him in a concerned way. "What?" He panicked.

"Let me see your hand Harry." I whispered, suddenly his face turned cold.

"I hurt it in Quidditch practise." He mumbled avoiding my eye contact.

"_Don't_ lie to me Harry." I hissed seizing his hand and pulling the bandage off, he did not stop me. "'I must not tell lies'?" I read off of his hand. "Harry what the hell is this?" I growled, he pulled his hand back.

"It's nothing, don't worry about it-" He started but I cut him off.

"Harry Potter all you've wanted in life is a family, I'm finally here for you so don't you dare try and shut me out!" I growled at him "Haven't you told anyone Dumbledore? Sirius?"

"I will sort it out Katrina." He snapped, I glared at him and his look softened slightly. "Thank you for your concern, but really I will be fine, it's just a scratch."

"She shouldn't be allowed to teach like this! It's horrendous!" I growled, Harry just laughed.

"You sound just like Hermione." He smiled, I let half a smile rise on my lips. "I better go, wouldn't want to make this scratch any worse by being late." He smiled I nodded and with that Harry walked back to his friends and I went straight to the classroom. Soon the rest of the class turned up and we were allowed in to the room by a woman who, to me at least, much resembled a toad. I glared at her as I passed her on my way in, sitting down beside Daphne, as everyone else filled the room silently I turned to my friend.

"You were right, she's to do with the bandages. Harry has _writing_ scratched into his _skin_ saying 'I must not tell lies'. I mean this can't be legal right?" I whispered to Daphne, she looked at me.

"I've heard of that! It's a special kind of quill; it takes the blood from the person writing and uses it as _ink._" She explained, I let out a squeal of horror that a teacher would be using such a thing. Unfortunately my squeal did not go unnoticed by Umbridge, as the rest of the class sat in their seats, she approached me.

"Ah, Miss. Potter, I've heard quite a bit about you. Such extraordinary privileges for someone so..." She now stood in front of me and eyed me suspiciously. "Ordinary." She said with a light giggle at the end, I glared at her.

"Yeah well I suppose a pretty face gets you places in the world, though I don't suppose _you_ would know anything about _that_." I spat to her gaining some snickers from throughout the room.

"Ah, and a smart mouth, just like your cousin. I suppose you enjoy lying just as much as he does too?" He giggled again I opened my mouth to speak again but a sharp jab from Daphne made me stop. "I see at least your friend Miss. Greengrass has some sense to try and get you to keep your mouth shut." I just continued glaring at her, she span on her heel and giggled once more. I silently threw my fingers up cursing at the back of the woman as she started the lesson.

The lesson finished and everyone walked into the halls in silence, as soon as we were a safe distance away Daphne glanced back then looked back at me.

"Okay, you're free to spill." She informed me.

"What a horrible, cruel, annoying, evil, painstakingly ugly, spiteful, irritating little woman!" I growled Daphne laughed.

"I did try to warn you." She smiled, I nodded.

"Yeah thanks for shutting me up in there by the way, I'd have ended up with half my arm in a bandage the way my mind was reeling." I hissed, Daphne laughed.

"No problem." She smiled. I decided that after my horrendous lesson I didn't want any dinner, I was feeling pretty tired anyway so I just decided to head up to bed. I went and had a shower then got changed ready for bed, just as I went to walk into our room Daphne and the other three girls walked out.

"I still can't believe you're going to bed already!" Daphne laughed, the other three mumbled in agreement.

"We'll meet you downstairs Daphne, we're meeting the boys in the hall anyway so you'll probably be able to walk down with them if you're not too long." Pansy said leaving with the other two girls, Daphne smiled back to them before turning back to me.

"You're not still beating yourself up about this Umbridge thing are ya?" She asked, I frowned and shook my head.

"No, I'm just tired, had a hard day of learning you know?" I smiled she just laughed.

"Well good, cause she's just a cruel woman, you don't need that on your conscious." I smiled at her words, the girl had really been a true friend to me this past week and I definitely wouldn't have survived without her, I decided something right then. I smiled to my friend as she disappeared down the stairs and waited a few minutes then I rushed down the stairs and back up the opposite set ignoring the few quizzical looks I got from random fourth years in the common room. I rushed to the fifth floor once more and knocked on that same door, hoping I hadn't missed him. Draco opened the door and I felt that rush of relief that I had felt when Blaise had answered the door the first night I'd knocked.

"Radcliff." He hissed eyeing me suspiciously.

"Anyone else in?" I asked, he shook his head and with that I pushed past him and let myself in.

"What are you here for? Nott is down at dinner." He growled sarcastically, I turned around and glared at him, as I got a good look at him I realised he was also in his nothing but an unbuttoned shirt and boxers. My glare turned into a light blush as I looked away from him.

"I'm here to see you, I want you to ask your father something for me." I said walking over to Draco's bed pretending to be interested in a book on his bed so he wouldn't see my blush.

"What?" He asked lowly, he didn't seem in a very good mood this evening.

"If I can tell Daphne about the plan? I feel terrible for lying to her and her parents are Death Eaters anyway... Please?" I begged now turning to look at him, his infamous smirk jumped to his lips at the sound of me begging. It was a small pleasure to me to actually see him happier then when I'd walked in. He walked towards me closing the gap between us.

"I could ask him..." He said before he closed the gap completely and was so close I could feel his chest against my body. "But it'll cost you." I brought my eyes up to his and smirked. His hand found its way to my face his finger against my chin going to pull it towards his face, just as our lips came within touching distance I grinned.

"_You_ have a girlfriend," I whispered into his lips before stepping away from him, the hunger in his eyes hard to pull away from. "And besides, _I _am interested in someone else." I saw the jealousy flick across his face again and I smirked loving every moment of his jealousy. "I'm not going to sleep with you just to get to tell Daphne." I growled going to leave.

"Radcliff," He called, I turned to face him, his eyes were now filled with something else, not jealousy, not hunger, but sadness? "I'll owl him for you." He mumbled I smiled at him.

"Thank you Draco." I said, he just nodded before I left feeling a little bewildered by the end of our interaction as I sped back to my room I quickly got into bed still completely confused.


	12. Chapter 12

**12.**

A few days later Draco slipped me a note in Potions asking me to meet him on the Seventh floor at lunch, I did as asked and as my last lesson before lunch finished I made an excuse to the girls and left the group swiftly finding my way to the seventh floor. I sent the fat lady a glare as I walked past her, then, just as I walked past a boys bathroom I suddenly felt someone grab my wrist and pull me in to the toilets. I squealed covering my eyes.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? Who is this?" I hollered, the person started laughing and I recognised the sound. "Draco?" I asked my hand slipping slightly seeing the blonde boy I allowed my hand to drop completely.

"What was that about?" He asked with a smirk on his face, I blushed.

"I didn't want to see any boys naked." I mumbled, this causing an even bigger roar of laughter to come from Draco's mouth. I just playfully hit him and he slowly composed himself. "Why have you pulled me into this disgusting place anyway?" I sneered at my surroundings.

"I got an owl back from my father today. He actually informed me of something pretty interesting…" He grinned, I just glared at him.

"Out with it Draco." I hissed.

"He said the Greengrass family already know about the Dark Lord's plan, he told them before you started Hogwarts." Draco explained I nodded happily.

"So it should be fine? Me telling Daphne?" I grinned, Draco looked at me like I was dumb.

"You don't get it Radcliffe, he told the _family_… Daphne _already knows._" Draco hissed, my jaw dropped. "It's probably the only reason she's friends with you, you know, chum up to the pawn of the plan, and maybe get some good word in for her parents." I scowled at him, but before I could defend Daphne expressing how she would not do that Draco stopped me with his own words. "Don't put it past a Slytherin Radcliff, we'll do anything to get ahead." He said before passing the very dumbstruck me and leaving the toilets. I just stood there, extremely upset, I felt tears come to my eyes; the one person I'd trusted was only friends with me because I was a _pawn_ in some ridiculous war! I walked over to the sinks and looked to my tearful face.

'_Don't cry over them Katrina, don't you dare cry over a bunch of selfish, evil Slytherins!_' My thoughts hissed in my mind and suddenly I got very angry, how dare she think she could pull the wool over my eyes like this! I yelled out and punched the first thing I saw, which happened to be the very hard surface of the mirror. I looked up to see it smashed, I cried out in pain looking at my cut up fist. _'Damn bad luck.' _I thought as I glared at the smashed mirror, before I rushed out of the bathroom.

After a quick trip to the nurse, convincing her I had simply tripped and grazed it against the floor though she didn't look as though she believed me as she questioned the bruising and obvious swelling, which I denied being able to see. I found I had missed lunch, which was probably best as I didn't feel like seeing Daphne. I rushed through my last few classes avoiding Slytherins as much as possible, well except one, Theodore had actually become quite the handy tool for avoiding the others, Daphne assumed I would want to be alone with him. Draco daren't come too close for fear of ripping Theo's head off apparently Theo was one Slytherin in this school who didn't fear Draco and to me that was rather appealing.

I went down to dinner that day only because Theo convinced me to, I walked down the hallway aside him as we happily talked to each other. He told me all about his life, and I told him about mine. For once, although Theo had made it very obvious he did not like muggles, I didn't feel like a Slytherin was judging me on my past. I smiled at him as we walked into the grand hall, the Slytherin tables eyes landed on us, apparently me telling Daphne meant she wouldn't tell Theo directly but she would tell the whole house instead. As we sat down at a point in the table that wasn't surrounded by people I didn't want to be around, Pansy moved to sit in front of us, I was looking at Theo laughing at a joke he had made about the awkward and obvious chatter among our peers. I didn't notice Pansy until she spoke.

"I think it's just wonderful." Her whine of a voice rang out in my ears; it cut off mine and Theo's laughter as we looked over to her. She just smiled back at us, I glanced from Theo, who just shrugged, back to her.

"What is it that you find so wonderful Parkinson?" I asked, she grinned.

"Well this…" She explained, my brow furrowed in confusion, she looked between me and Theo and then laughed. "You know… You two?"

"What about us Parkinson?" Theo spoke up this time.

"Well you know, you two getting together, you're obviously interested in each other." The words made a blush run from my throat up my face; luckily Theo's face was a similar colour. Pansy giggled. "I think that is our proof right there." She grinned; I let an embarrassed laugh escape my lips as I saw Theo smile from the corner of my eye. "Besides, anything that gets you away from Malfoy is a blessing to me." Pansy said towards me, I just rolled my eyes with a grin still on my face, I noticed Theo's smile falter a bit. "See you later Potter, Nott." Pansy said finally getting up and leaving.

"Well… That was awkward" I laughed to Nott, he laughed back.

"Yeah, nice though." He said and I couldn't help but smile.

After dinner that night I noticed that the girls had all already gone to our bedroom, so I decided to avoid there until very late so they would be asleep.

"Want to go to the library with me for a bit?" I asked Nott, he grinned.

"I thought you'd never ask." He said with a wink, I giggled as we stood and left the hall. I had asked Nott why I hadn't seen him around as much as everyone else and it turns out that he mostly spent his time in the library which I had only actually visited once in the whole time I'd been here. As we walked through the halls, Theo explained to me which potion was his favourite to make and why, just as we rounded a corner someone grabbed my wrist and pulled me backwards. I let out small scream and Theo was quick to jump to my side, he grabbed the person around the wrist of the arm that had a hold of me. As both our eyes landed on who it was Theo was quick to let go, I smiled at Harry Potter.

"Hello Harry." I grinned glad it was him coming to me for once, his face however was not a happy one. He was eyeing Theo, who was still stood beside me.

"Katrina, Nott." Harry growled out at Theo.

"Potter." Theo mumbled out, I smiled at him.

"Mind giving us a little room Theo?" I asked he nodded.

"Sure, I'll just be over here." He said walking a little way down the hall. I turned back to Harry.

"Got your very own bodyguard now?" He asked suspiciously, I laughed.

"No, sorry he's just… He's my friend." I explained. "What's wrong Harry?" I asked he lifted my arm, which he still had a hold of and motioned towards the bandage that was wrapped around it.

"What is _this_? I swear if she got you too?" He growled, and I quickly realised that his anger was not directed at me at all, or even at Theodore, he was angry at Umbridge, thinking my arm was bandaged because of her cruel quill.

"Oh no, that wasn't her." With this Harry eyed me suspiciously but before I could explain any further he was pulling the bandage off. He looked at the, now severely bruised, hand and cocked his eyebrow at me. "I tripped and fell on it." I lied.

"Now who's lying?" He said, I sighed and looked down at my hand.

"I punched a mirror." His brow furrowed in confusion, I shook my head. "I was mad, somebody turned out to be completely different from what I thought they were." He gently let go of my wrist clarifying that he believed me and gave me a sympathetic smile. He then looked as though he was deliberating something in his mind; suddenly he pulled me into the first hug I had ever shared with him.

"Don't trust them Katrina, not one of them, they are all just in it for themselves." He whispered into my shoulder. I grinned into his as I allowed my arms to wrap around his body. I knew he was talking about the Slytherin's and for the moment, I could only agree with his suspicions. They didn't seem the sharing bunch. Harry pulled away from our cuddle and I smiled at him.

"Thank you Harry." I smiled, he grinned back and nodded before turning and walking away. I turned back and joined back up with Theodore further down the hall.

"What was that about?" He asked as we walked towards the large doors of the library. I just smiled and shook my head.

"Nothing, just a family moment." I grinned, realising I was really enjoying having a _family._

Me and Theodore sat in the library together, he had a book sat between us and had decided that it would be best to use this time we had to teach me a few more things about magic. I'd been the one to pick the subject though, and as I still hadn't had much Herbology practise I decided on that. Theodore had picked a random page, as he opened the book he allowed a laugh to come out of his lips, I frowned in confusion.

"It's funny that we turned on to this page, last year we had this competition here in Hogwarts called the Triwizard tournament. It ended in tragedy, but the second task had been for the competitors to swim underwater in the lake for an hour to retrieve something that had been stolen from them. Your cousin, who by some strange chance because no-one under the age of seventeen was actually allowed to enter the competition, was one of the competitors, and in this particular swimming task used, this," He pointed to the page. "Gillyweed, which even I've got to admit was a _really_ smart thing to think of." He smiled, I was in awe over the entire story.

"What does it do?" I asked.

"It gives the person who eats it gills and webbed fingers and toes for an hour." I looked at the drawing of the weed, it looked slimy and foul, I sneered.

"You have to eat _that_, ew." I mumbled, Theodore laughed. I smiled at him and looked up from the book to his face to see he was staring at me with a strange look in his eyes, as though he wanted to ask me something. I frowned at him. "Something wrong?" I asked, he frowned.

"I was just wondering… Well… It's difficult to ask without…" He mumbled more to himself then me as his eyes fell to the table in front of him, I frowned.

"Just ask Theo." I smiled, he looked to me again.

"Okay, but, don't think that I'm asking in a jealous kind of way I don't want it to seem like that at all I just want to know cause I'm curious-"

"Theodore!" I whined cutting him off.

"What kind of relationship do you and Malfoy have?" He blurted out, the suddenness and question made me pull back slightly and he looked at me a little worriedly. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to." He smiled, I looked at him.

"Why are you asking?" I wondered.

"Well when we first met you told me that things between you and him were a 'long story' and then earlier, Parkinson said that anything to keep you away from Malfoy. As though you and him have something…" He mumbled eyeing my reactions to his speaking.

"Parkinson is just a jealous fool." I hissed. "Me and Malfoy have nothing, I hardly know him." I lied.

"So you've never dated or anything?-" I cut him off with a loud laugh, which caused the librarian to shoot me an angry look.

"What?" I squealed still laughing, only slightly quieter now. "No! Never, Theo I've only known the boy a month!" I laughed; Theo seemed to relax slightly as he laughed too.

"I did think it was a little quick, so then why don't you like him so much?" Theo questioned, I frowned, this one I didn't have an answer for, probably because the whole thing was a façade. I didn't dislike Draco in the slightest in fact I really quite liked him, but it was just easier somehow to pretend we didn't like each other. I eyed Theo who was obviously still waiting for an answer, I quickly thought and strangely enough it was the truth that got me out of it.

"He's the only person I have heard nothing but bad things about since turning up here. I don't like the idea of socialising with people like that." I explained, it was true, I had only heard bad things about Draco, but that just made me more interested in him.

"Good head you've got on those shoulders Kat." Theo grinned, obviously my answers had been the right ones. I smiled back at him.

"Cheers, now tell me more about this 'Triwizard tournament'!" I said, extremely intrigued by the entire thing.

The next few weeks went by much in the same way that day had. I avoided Daphne and all other Slytherins, bar Theo, as much as I possibly could and to be honest it went down well with everyone. Theo seemed to enjoy being the only person I gave any attention too and Harry and the other Gryffindor's seemed to take my avoiding them as some kind of rebellion. Before I knew it winter had rolled round and it was mere weeks before Christmas and there was all this chatter in the air about Hogsmeade the nearest town to Hogwarts. I was sat with Theo at breakfast the Friday morning before the Saturday that everyone was meant to be going, I'd put my name down to go and got the signed permission slip from my parents but I was slowly going off the idea, thinking I might feign illness instead, I pondered this plan as I stared out of the windows in the hall staring at the white sky and falling snow.

"What have we got first?" I asked Theo dragging my mind away from Hogsmeade, I looked up at him to discover he was already staring at me with a nervous look on his face. I jumped slightly when I realised he had been looking at me. "What's up?" I asked, knowing the look he was giving me.

"I – I wanted to ask you something." He mumbled, I smiled kindly and rolled my eyes.

"I'm not going to have to drag it out of you again am I?" The pair of us laughed before a blush reached Theo's cheeks. "Well, what is it?"

"I- I wanted to know if, well if _you'dcomehogsmeadewithmetomorrow_?" He said all in one word, I just gave him a clueless look.

"Huh?" I laughed, he just sighed and composed himself.

"Would you like to accompany me to Hogsmeade tomorrow?" He said with a very nervous look on his face, I smiled and nodded.

"I would love to Theo." With that I knew I had made his whole day.

After that my Friday seemed to fly by, I was on such a high spending my day with Theo that I had even managed to send a smile in Draco's direction at one point. I only received a scowl back though. Friday seemed to end quickly and before I knew it I was standing in a long queue of freezing students the floor covered in snow. I was beside Theo and although I was wrapped up in a large coat some wellington boots and a scarf I was still very cold.

"Filch does checks, he checks you have your slips on the way out and he checks to make sure no-one is taking anything from Hogsmeade into Hogwarts that isn't allowed on the way back in." Theo explained, I shivered.

"Well I wish he'd hurry the hell up I'm freezing!" I squealed, Theo just grinned.

"Aw, come here." He said putting a nice warm arm around me and pulling me into him for a warm hug, I smiled and nuzzled into him. Just as I went to put my arms around him to a sudden hard push from behind forced the pair of us apart, I stumbled away got my foot caught on some hard snow and I tripped over.

"OI!" I heard Theo yell angrily, the snow allowed me a soft landing however and I glared back up at the person who had pushed me only to see that Theo was caught in an aggressive embrace with the boy. I was helped up by a familiar tall dark skinned boy and I quickly clued on to who it was fighting Theo.

"Thanks Blaise." I mumbled he just swiftly nodded at me as I rushed over to Theo and the familiar blonde haired boy. I tried to pull them apart.

"You'll regret that you pompous ferret!" Theo yelled.

"Theo!" I yelled at him but I couldn't get them apart just as it looked like I was about to fall over again Blaise came bustling over and we managed to get the pair apart. I held on to Theo moving so I was stood in between him and Draco, I smiled at him but he ignored me and just glared over my shoulder at Draco.

"Theo, Theo, listen to me…" But he still didn't look at me "Theo! Stop being an idiot, do you _want_ McGonagall to ban you from Hogsmeade for this trip? Cause if you didn't want to go you could have just told me!" I hissed, finally I'd gotten his attention; he looked down at me with regret.

"No, Kat, you know that's not what I want!" He mumbled "It's just I'm sick of him! He's been acting like a nutter for ages now with no reason!"

"Just ignore him Theo, please? For me?" I asked, he grinned looking at me before nodding and putting his arm back around my shoulders. As we turned around to join the queue again I sent an angry glare in Draco's direction. He was now stood with Pansy who had tears running down her face and she was screaming at him, he didn't even look phased though; he just stared at me and Theo. I rolled my eyes at him as me and Theo swiftly walked into Hogsmeade.

The entire town made me feel like I was back in Diagon Alley with the Malfoy's again, all the magic and happy faces. I smiled around at all the different shops as I walked alongside Theo. We walked into Honeyduke's sweet shop and he pointed out all the amazing sweets there were. While I was looking at a box of 'Bertie Botts every flavour bean' my eyes drifted up to a set of eyes that were already on me and across the shop I caught Daphne sending me a sad and confused look. I just threw a glare back at her before deciding to buy the sweets I had in my hands. Theo pulled me into the book shop too, telling me which books would be brilliant for me and which were just favourites of his. He decided to buy a few and with that we left the shop into the cold street once more. I looked at a few other shops, further away from the centre of town, trying to get Theo away from the general public of the school just in case we bumped into Malfoy again. I gasped when I saw something in the window of a shop, Theo sent me a frown as I rushed over to it.

"Look at that, it's beautiful!" I squealed, it was a jewellery shop, it had one particular bracelet in the window that I thought was just gorgeous. It had little golden balls which looked like they had wings on them; the wing parts were silver and were the bits that interlinked to each ball. It was truly beautiful, Theo started laughing which made me look up at him.

"What?" I squeaked.

"Do you know what that is?" He asked, I looked at the bracelet.

"Well, yeah, it's a bracelet!" I said, causing Theo to laugh further.

"Do you know what the little balls making the bracelet up are?" he asked, I shook my head. "They're what's called a snitch it's the ball that wins the game in Quidditch." He explained.

"Oh," I said, the want in my eyes not leaving as I looked at the bracelet again. "It's still beautiful." I said, he laughed again and started nodding.

"Yeah it is." He agreed, and suddenly I felt his hand slip into mine, I grinned as I linked my fingers with his. We moved away from the shop window and I looked up at him.

"So explain this Quidditch thing to me again?" I said, he laughed a little.

"Quidditch is wizards sport, it's our version of… Well I'm not sure, name a sport that muggles love." He said.

"Football!" I quickly replied he smiled.

"Well yeah, Quidditch is probably as popular here as football is in the muggle world." He smiled, as we carried on walking and Theo explaining the sport to me I saw Harry, Ron and Hermione walking towards us. I smiled at them.

"Harry!" I yelled after Theo stopped talking, realising they were approaching.

"Hey Kat," Harry grinned, his eyes going from me to Theo and then to our interlinked hands.

"What are you guys doing so way out of town?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

"Theo had a bit of a bust up with Malfoy, didn't want to bump into him again. What about you guys?" I asked Theo leant in to me.

"I'll be back in a sec." He whispered to me, I just nodded to him before he let go of my hand and rushed off in the opposite direction.

"We, er, we just fancied getting away from the crowd a bit ya know?" Ron peeped out, I eyed him suspiciously but before I could say anything Harry spoke.

"So Nott and Malfoy? What happened there? Not often a Slytherin fights with one of his own!"

"Oh it was silliness. Malfoy pushed me over for no reason what so ever. He's just a massive tosser basically." I growled Ron and Harry let out roars of laughter, even Hermione smiled.

"Too bloody right Katrina!" Ron bellowed through his laughs.

"Where you guys off to anyway? You going to the Three Broomsticks? That's the popular one isn't it? I'm just going off what Theo's said." I laughed, Harry nodded.

"Yeah that's the popular one but we're not going there…" He explained, a small cough came from Hermione's direction, I shot her a confused frown but Harry just ignored it. "In fact we're going to another pub…" Another slightly louder cough came out from Hermione. "It's called the…" This time Hermione coughed so loudly she might as well have shouted at Harry not to tell me. "The Hogs head." He growled throwing Hermione a glare, she just returned the look. "It's not very popular there though." He said looking back to me again. I just looked between the two friends as I suddenly felt a hand slip into mine again, I looked around to see Theo was back.

"Okay," I mumbled, looking back to Harry. "Well hopefully I'll see you later then Harry." I grinned. "See you." I mumbled Harry waved and we walked on.

"A bit of a weird one that Hermione isn't she?" I asked Theo he laughed.

"Yeah well, she is a Mudblood." Theo said with a very serious look on his face. I just ignored the rude term and glanced back at the departing figures of Hermione, Harry and Ron. It now looked like Harry and Hermione were arguing. I frowned and shook my head before continuing up the road with Theo.

Theo took me to go see the Shrieking Shack, which I was thoroughly disappointed to find that you couldn't get into. Before we left and headed back into town.

"There's this brilliant little pub I like to go to down in the quieter part of the town it's called the H-"

"The Hog's Head?" I cut Theo off and he looked at me, quite shocked that I knew what he was talking about.

"Yeah, how did you know?" He asked.

"Harry said that's where he was going." I said with a smile but Theo's look turned into a frown.

"Really?" I nodded. "That's strange, nobody ever goes there normally. The land lord is a bit of a freak, that's the reason I like it so much." He explained

"Cause the landlord is a freak?" I laughed out sarcastically Theo just gave me a playful glare.

"No, because nobody ever goes in there. I hope it's not going to be full of Potter and his Gryffindor pals now." Theo growled. He had guessed correctly, when we turned up the place was full of nearly 30 students, they all looked over at us when we walked in. I looked over my shoulder at Theo who rolled his eyes. My eyes landed back on the group, Harry, Hermione and Ron were stood up at the front of the crowd they looked as though they were making a speech to them. I saw Hermione shoot Harry an angry glare as I waved at him. I looked into the crowd of people and mostly got glares shot back at me from the likes of Ginny Weasley and various other students I didn't even know, my eyes landed on the twins however and they just smiled at me, I smiled back as Theo dragged me off to the furthest table away from the large group of mostly Gryffindors, though I did spot a few Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs in there too. Theo appeared back at the table with two drinks, he shot a glare over to the large group.

"Wonder what they're doing in here anyway?" Theo asked to nobody in particular, I shrugged my attention now on the drink Theo had placed in front of me.

"What is this?" I questioned, Theo laughed at me.

"I keep forgetting you don't know these things. It's called a Butterbeer. It's nice, try it!" He explained.

"Is it alcoholic?" I asked, Theo nodded.

"Only slightly, not enough to get you drunk or anything! Just try some you wimp!" He laughed I smiled and put my hand to the large glass, it was warm which cheered me up slightly as the cold air outside could still be felt in here. I lifted the glass to my lips and drank some. It tasted very similar to butterscotch, which I happened to like the taste of. I grinned at Theo after I had sipped the drink and he started laughing.

"It's nice!" I grinned, but he still continued to laugh uncontrollably I frowned at him but it only made him laugh harder to the point were a few people had started looking over. I blushed. "What are you laughing at?" I squeaked.

"You- You've got some butterbeer on your lip." He managed to say through his laughter, I frowned and picked up a spoon. I looked in the back of it and realised that I had a butterbeer moustache. I laughed at myself before looking back at Theo.

"I think I look quite dashing!" I laughed out forcing him to break into uncontrollable laughter again, I pouted at him with one eyebrow rose pretending to stroke an invisible beard.

"What are you doing?" He asked through his laughs, tears coming to his eyes through laughter I glanced at him.

"Pretending to be Dumbledore!" I squealed out this even forced the passing customer to crack a smile as mine and Theo's laughter got out of control. Suddenly our laughter came to a halt though as I heard something from over in the corner that caught both our attention.

"SHE IS MY COUSIN!" Harry Potter's angry voice fell on to our ears making my smile stop and my head snap round to the group of students. Harry was stood with his back to us in front of a very angry looking Hermione and a boy I did not know, I frowned looking over to them. Hermione and the boys' eyes landed on mine and Theo's table telling Harry that I was looking over. Harry turned on his heel and looked at me he smiled at the frown on my face as he walked over to us.

"Harry." I mumbled. "What was that about?" He looked at me a nervous smile still on his lips.

"You do realise you've got…" He pointed to his top lip, I rolled my eyes and swiftly wiped my lip with my hand. I eyed him suspiciously.

"Well…?" I asked Harry sighed and glanced from me to Theo.

"Do you mind if I steal her a moment?" He asked, Theo eyed him just as suspiciously as I did and looked at me, I looked back at him and nodded.

"Go for it." He said and Harry's hand quickly wrapped around my wrist, he pulled me out of my seat and over to the large group of students, my stomach turned with nerves as the majority of them glared at me. Fred and George quickly walked over to me and gave me a three-way hug, obviously sensing my worry, I laughed into their hug.

"Cheers boys." I mumbled they just smiled as they received a scowl from their sister. Harry turned back to me pulling me closer to the group.

"This is my cousin Katrina, and regardless of what you think," He sent a glare in Hermione and the random boys' direction. "I'm going to tell her everything I get up to at this school."

"We can't trust her! She's a Slytherin, don't you think there's a reason we've got no Slytherins in this group!" The sandy haired boy who was stood beside Hermione spoke, I glared at him.

"I'm sorry what's your name?" I growled

"Zacharias Smith." He said smugly.

"Right Smith, do you know me?" I hissed at him, he glared at me but shook his head. "So shut the fuck up." I growled this gained me a few more scowls from various students.

"Katrina, we are here because we've decided to take our education into our own hands!" Harry explained I frowned at him. "They are not teaching us the correct ways to defend ourselves against Dark Arts, so we need to teach ourselves." Harry explained.

"Harry, I'm not sure that's-"

"I wasn't sure about it at first either Kat, but can you handle any more of these lessons, these cruel detentions with Umbridge?" He questioned I shook my head. "So will you join?" Harry smiled, I frowned and shook my head again, this gaining me some more glares even some remarks from Smith.

"Harry, I'll only hold the rest of you back, I wouldn't be up to everyone else's standards and I don't want you taking twice as long to teach me things as everybody else." I explained this got me a few sympathetic looks from the twins and Ron.

"Katrina, don't worry about that, I mean I don't mind-" I cut Harry off.

"No Harry, I've made my mind up. I can't join; it wouldn't be fair on everybody else. Besides I am a Slytherin, I don't want any other Slytherins following me and cluing on to what's going on." Harry smiled sadly at me, Hermione suddenly spoke up.

"You still have to sign this!" She hissed pushing a quill and some parchment towards me.

"What?" I glared down at the parchment "No."

"You have to, so we can trust you won't tell anybody." I eyed her suspiciously.

"No, I don't want to." I hissed, already having my mind set on the only person I was going to tell. "I'm not joining your little gang, I don't need to sign."

"So how do we know we can trust you then?" Ginny growled, I glared at the girl I didn't even know.

"It's a little thing called trust." Ginny scoffed. "It tends to be the kind thing family members can do for each other." I smiled to Harry, he smiled back.

"You can't do that!" Ginny howled stepping forwards now, "You've just guilted him into trusting you! You manipulative cow, no wonder you're in Slytherin!" Ginny hissed I stepped towards her.

"You wana repeat that you spiteful little-" George had jumped behind me and grabbed hold of my arms to prevent me from stepping forward anymore, Fred had done the same to his sister.

"I never thought I'd see the day _we_ were holding back a cat fight!" George laughed to his brother. I glared at Ginny then looked at Harry.

"You can trust me Harry, I won't tell anyone about this little meeting you've got here." I said, Harry nodded to me.

"Let her go George, we can trust her." I heard several disapproving noises from a few members of the group, including a very loud, very obvious snort from Ginny and a huff from Hermione. I pulled myself away from George.

"Thank you Harry." I smiled, at him before sending everyone else a scowl and storming back to Theo who I was slightly shocked to discover had stood up; obviously when I'd gone for Ginny he had been prepared to jump in.

"Let's go." He growled at me I nodded and slipped my hand into his outstretched one as we stormed out of the pub, the entire group of students just staring at us. I looked up at Theo as we got a bit further away from the pub and smiled.

"Thank you." I mumbled, he looked down at me looking a little shocked.

"For what?" He asked I smiled.

"For not asking what that was about." I said, he smiled looking back ahead of us he shrugged slightly.

"It's your business." He explained I laughed.

"And you heard us arguing about me telling people and knew I wouldn't tell you even if I asked?" I questioned with a laugh, he grinned, looking down to his shoes.

"Yeah that too." He admitted looking back to me, we both laughed a little as I pulled his arm around me once more.


	13. Chapter 13

**13.**

**AN: Sorry this is such a short chapter I wanted to get the beginning of Christmas break done all in the next Chapter. Thanks to everyone who's reading, you're all amazing!**

Theo and I continued wandering around Hogsmeade for a while avoiding as many people as possible. I felt kind of bad that he only had me for company but he didn't seem to mind. Just as I was thinking about telling Theo to feel free to talk to anyone he likes Blaise appeared. Theo shot the boy a foul look making me give his hand a gentle squeeze, as a reminder not to hold Blaise accountable for Draco's actions.

"Nott, I'm glad I caught you before you left." Blaise said, Theo remained with his foul look.

"Zabini." He curtly said.

"Hey Katrina!" Blaise said a bit happier then how he spoke to Theo, I smiled at him.

"Hey Blaise, thanks for earlier by the way." I smiled Blaise shook his head.

"Don't worry about it, that's actually what I came over here to talk to you about Nott." Theo looked at him in a very uninterested way and Blaise decided this was his sign to speak. "I just wanted to apologise for Malfoy, he didn't know what came over him, and he reckons he might have been cursed!" Blaise laughed, I smiled but Theo just rolled his eyes.

"I think we all know what came over him Blaise." Theo growled. "Besides, if Malfoy wants to apologise he could at least be a man and come to me to do it himself." I decided to leave this conversation before things got nasty.

"I'll be back in a second Theo." I said, he smiled and gave me a swift nod. I let go of his hand and walked away, I walked up to the book store he had pulled me into earlier, glancing back to make sure Theo wasn't looking at me, I quickly rushed in when I saw he wasn't. I walked to the exact same place he had pulled me to when he'd pointed out a particular book he liked it was one about potions I found it and picked it up. I walked back over to the counter and placed it down. The man smiled at me and I handed him the money and left the store shoving the book into my bag to make sure Theo didn't see it. I walked back out and saw that Theo was still talking to Blaise, I frowned and decided that I had some more time so I rushed off again this time heading in the direction of the robes store. I rushed in, looking for the perfect colour, finally my eyes landed on a dark green dressing gown I picked it up and smiled, it was perfect, I quickly brought it and ran back out the store only to see that Theo was still chatting to Blaise I sighed and walked over. However just as I did Theo spotted me and made it his cue to leave the conversation he made a bee line for me and quickly grabbed my hand and turned me around.

"Keep walking, I told him we were due somewhere in a hurry." He mumbled, I let out a laugh as I peered over my shoulder and waved to Blaise, he just stood there looking confused. Soon enough me and Theo had made our way to Hogwarts once more and it was just in time for dinner.

Later that evening I was stood in the common room saying good night to Theo, I pulled him in for a hug.

"Thank you, for today." I smiled into his chest.

"Thank you, you were quite the pleasure to have around." He grinned, I laughed and pulled away slightly just as I was about to let go and walk up the stairs Theo pulled me in closer and I felt his lips collide into mine. This felt weird though, it didn't give me butterflies or sheer excitement like kisses normally would instead I just felt nothing. I relaxed into the kiss but didn't deepen it and luckily Theo didn't try to either. He pulled away and I let go of a breath I didn't realise I was holding in. I smiled at him.

"I'll see you later." I smiled he nodded.

"See you." He said and with that I rushed back up the stairs. I walked into my room and wrapped the two gifts I had brought on the book I wrote a tag to Theo and I left the other blank. I hid them both under my bed, I laid back on my bed thinking about my day, then I recalled the Hog's head incident and realised I'd still yet to tell Draco. I stood up and went to walk down the common room and across to the boy's room, but I quickly realised that I had just left Theo for him to go up to the boy's dorm. I sighed in frustration and sat back down on my bed, there was no real other way for me to get him away from everyone else. Then I realised, I could use my owl, I looked at my watch making sure it wasn't too late for me to be running around the castle then rushed out of the dorms and the common room. I quickly exited the castle, realising that I had taken my coat off back in the common room so I was now severely cold luckily I still had my boots and scarf on so I could run across the snow pretty swiftly. Once I hit the inside of the owlery the heat seemed to hit me like a brick wall, but I couldn't see any source of it, I assumed it was magic and walked over to my owl, which I had decided to name Newton.

"Hey little guy!" I said he hooted in reply to me and I smiled I pulled out a small piece of parchment.

'Malfoy, meet me at the top of the owerly tower right now. Radcliff.' I scribbled on the note, I tied it to Newton's leg.

"Take this to the dungeons. It's for Draco Malfoy." He hooted once more then flew off.

Ten minutes later Draco walked through the door fully clad in large robes and a green scarf wrapped around his face. He had Newton perched upon his shoulder. I didn't notice him walk as I was at the top of the tower staring out the large window in the ceiling at the stars. It was only when I heard shuffling feet on the same floor as me that I realised I wasn't alone any more. I turned to see the blonde haired boy I'd come to know so well, he was placing Newton down on a perch. When he looked back at me I noticed a large black bruise under his eye, my look softened and I rushed over to him. He looked a bit take back by my closeness to him at first but h relaxed when he realised what I was examining, my hand brushed on to his face as I gently touched the bruise with my thumb.

"Jesus, are you okay?" I asked worriedly. "Was that The-" Then I realised what I had come here for and cleared my throat stepping away from him again.

"Malfoy." I mumbled, he eyed me suspiciously after my reaction.

"Radcliff, what's this about?" He asked stepping forwards.

"I've got some more information for your father." I explained, he seemed to relax slightly when he realised I hadn't called him here to argue about earlier.

"Right, of course, what is it?" He asked.

"Harry's starting up some kind of group, teaching students how to defend themselves against the dark arts; he's doing the job of Umbridge because he and the rest of the group don't feel like she's doing the job well enough." I explained Draco eyed me suspiciously.

"When did he tell you this?" He asked.

"Today, in Hogsmeade, he was having a meeting in the Hogs head with them all. There's a good twenty of them in the group, the usual lot, all the Weasleys, Granger, a few other Gryffindors, some Ravenclaws and a few Hufflepuffs. Some fool called Zacharias Smith." I spat remembering the crude boy.

"You know the name of it?" Draco questioned I frowned and shook my head.

"No, I didn't join it." I growled.

"What? Why the hell not? We need someone in there to tell us what they're doing in there." Draco growled at me, I rolled my eyes.

"I couldn't have joined, I'm sure Granger would have figured out some way to make sure if you're in the group you can't tell anyone about it. She practically held a gun to my head to try and get me to sign some parchment about it, I didn't." I replied to Draco's suspicious stare. "Don't worry Malfoy, I'm sure Harry will tell me about anything exciting that happens anyway." I hissed at him, he rolled his eyes.

"The boy doesn't trust you Radcliff, he's not going to tell you about his secret fan club meetings is he!" Draco spat

"He told me about it in the first place didn't he?" I scowled at him, that had shut him up, he just glared at me. "Anyway that's all I had to say, thought it might have been useful. Obviously not." I hissed going to walk away.

"What were _you_ doing in the Hogs Head anyway? The broomstick is far better." Draco hissed, I turned to look at him, now slightly closer to him as I'd been heading for the stairs which he had been stood at the top of. I smirked at him knowing the answer would get him angry.

"I was there with Theo, he prefers it to The Three Broomsticks, not as many nosey students." I hissed Draco glared at me before letting out a scoff.

"He would prefer there, fucking loner, he doesn't avoid people on purpose Radcliff he just has no friends." Draco spat out I just laughed out sadistically.

"You really want to start this argument Malfoy?" I sneered at him suddenly his smirk, which I had not seen for the entire conversation, sprang to his lips. "Just because Theo doesn't conform to your group doesn't make him friendless." I narrowed my eyes. "Besides, he has me so he's not totally friendless." I smirked, Draco just eyed me for a moment before speaking.

"Is that all you are? _Friends_? I thought you were much more than that given the way you two were cuddling in the queue to Hogsmeade." He hissed

"Oh you mean the cuddle that you nearly killed him over? The _cuddle_ that gained you that bruise?" I eyed his purpling eye he looked away.

"Zabini told you, I'd been cursed-" I scoffed cutting him off.

"Yeah cursed by jealousy." I hissed his eyes shot back to me fixed in a glare. "It was a cuddle Malfoy, get over it."

"Well clearly Nott saw it as more then that as all he's been boasting about for the entire time he's been back from Hogsmeade is a kiss you two shared." Draco hissed eyeing my face for a reaction, he got one, my entire face flushed a deep pink and I looked away from him. He smirked. "So it's true then. What exactly is going on with you two Radcliff?" He hissed, I looked up at him trying to read what he wanted out of this.

"What's it to you Malfoy?" I snarled, he smirked at me when he suddenly pushed me against the wall of the tower, my stomach went mad as butterflies flew through it and I struggled to keep a smile from my lips.

"Well I was starting to enjoy out little meetings and I don't want them to stop on account of Nott." He hissed I just fought off my true feelings and glared at him.

"You're with Pansy Draco, and despite of how you pretend to feel about her you will never stop being with her. So just let me get on with my life and stop winding me up!" I growled pushing him away and storming off down the stairs.

Draco's eyes watched the long haired brunette as she stormed down the stairs away from him. 'I would stop being with her for you.' Oh how he wished he could say such a thing, but he doubted Katrina would believe him, or even want him. He knew she was attracted to him but Katrina was smart, she needed more than attraction to be with a man, and she had such an obvious strong view on Draco she saw him as a player because of the way he treated Pansy and he supposed with Pansy he kind of was. Draco sighed as he scowled over to a rather loudly squawking owl, deciding now would probably be the best time to go back to the common room. He walked the long distance between the two places hoping he wouldn't catch Katrina up and before he knew it he was back in the warmth of the green and silver common room. He walked up to the fifth floor of the boy's dorms side and walked in. He was remotely shocked to find that the four other boys in his room were still awake. Nott shot him an angry glare when Draco wandered through the door, Draco just mirrored the look and that set Nott off.

"Don't look at me like that Malfoy! You have no right you little ferret!" He spat at Draco just sneered at him.

"You not letting this shit go Nott? It's really quite pathetic getting so riled up over Potter, I'm sure it won't impress her." Draco hissed Nott just scowled at him

"You don't even _know_ her Malfoy!" These words aggravated Malfoy, oh how little Nott knew and how much Malfoy wanted to rub just how well he knew Katrina in his face. Draco smirked at him.

"I wouldn't mind getting to know her." He said knowing that it would get just the reaction he wanted out of Nott, who jumped towards Malfoy only to be held back by Crabbe.

"Don't you _ever_ talk about her like that again! I see you anywhere near her Malfoy and I swear on Merlin's name I will_ kill_ you!" Theo hissed and Draco, the latter boy just let out a laugh though.

"Have you told her about this ban yet? Cause I'm pretty sure it's only going to make her want me _more_." Draco smirked with a wink with these words Nott struggled his way out of Crabbe's grip and stormed towards Draco. He moved right up until he was inches from him, Draco however did not move, he stood his ground as Nott glared directly into Draco's face.

"Stay the _hell_ away from her Malfoy." He spat, the smirk appeared on Draco's face once more.

"Do you realise that both her cousin and my girlfriend have told me and Potter to stay away from each other. Yet she still keeps coming back for more." Draco hissed, with this he was surprised Nott did not thump him again, instead Nott just sneered before shoving past Draco and slamming the door shut as he left the room. The three other boys just stared at Draco in awe and as the anger died off in Draco's chest he glared at them all.

"I'm surprised he didn't punch you Malfoy, I would've!" Zabini finally broke the silence Draco just smirked and walked over to his bed. This notion told the other three boys they were free to talk amongst themselves. Shortly after the three other boys were soon asleep and Nott was nowhere to be seen, Draco decided this would be the perfect time to sort something out that he didn't want anyone else to see. He crawled off his bed and went into his trunk he pulled out a A4 sized box, he pulled it open and reassured himself that the long beautiful silver chained necklace was still inside. It was and Draco smiled at this fact, he lifted the stunning large, green jewel that hung off the bottom of the chain, as he examined it in the little light he had he saw the beautiful inscription written around it. 'Verus amor sicut larvae, quae vidistis et pauca de omnibus loquitur' it was latin and Draco knew that the intended receiver for the necklace would never figure out what it said without asking. He placed the necklace on some wrapping paper which magically wrapped itself around the box and Draco grinned. He knew giving jewellery to a girl was a bit of a personal thing to do but he also knew that this particular girl would never figure out who the anonymous gift was from. He placed the wrapped present in the deepest parts of his trunk and went to bed.


	14. Chapter 14

**14.**

**AN: OH I'm so so so sorry this one took so long to come! Let's just say that men suck and so does work. Those two points do not get easier with age in case any of you were wondering! Right so this is not the Christmas break just yet so I'm sorry for promising that but I just wanted to get this one done so I could get a few ideas down ;) Read and enjoy! Love you all for waiting for me and my slow fingers!**

It was the night before Christmas break and I could feel excitement in the air. I had left dinner early so I could get back to the dorm before the other girls and get Theo's present. I grabbed his present and decided it would probably be better if I took it to his room rather then get stuck in the common room with Daphne and the others bound to walk in at any moment. I knocked on his door and he quickly answered it he grinned when he saw me and opened the door up for me to walk in. I saw there was nobody in and smiled back to him.

"What's that you've got there?" He asked at the wrapped up book that was being very badly hidden behind my back.

"Oh… Nothing, just a little Christmas present for this guy I know…" I smiled at him, Theo grinned and bounded over to his trunk.

"Well that's strange cause I've also got a little present for a certain girl I know right here." He said and with that he pulled out a small long square box wrapped in dark silver paper. I smiled at him sheer excitement running through my veins, I _loved_ presents! I went to grab the box out of his hands but he pulled it away.

"Who said this is for you?" He laughed, I just eyed him suspiciously before letting out an aggravated squeal.

"I'll give you yours if you give me mine." I whined Theo laughed and nodded.

"Okay, on three… One, two…" He paused and looked at me with humour in his eyes as the pair of us stood there a hand tightly on each present. "Three!" With that we both swapped quickly and before I knew it Theo was ripping the paper off of his present.

"You should wait until Christmas!" I squeaked at him, he just grinned.

"You can wait, I want to see mine now!" He laughed out I cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Well if you're going to…" And with that I tore into my present. Theo already had his open and was grinning wildly at the front cover as though it had just told him the secret to all things magical. His eyes soon darted up to my face and he rushed at me lifting me into the air.

"Thank you so much! I love it! It can go with my collection." He beamed to me plopping me back to the floor and opening his trunk to reveal his 'collection' whereas my trunk, like many others, was filled with clothes and sweets Theo's was filled, to the brim, with books.

"Wow, that _is_ a collection isn't it?" I said in awe, he nodded and then looked back to me his eyes landing on my half open present. I smiled and looked back down at it myself pulling the last of the paper off, I suspiciously looked down at a black velvet box. I looked back up at him with the same suspicion he just smiled at me and I opened the box. There it was the beautiful snitch bracelet I had pointed out in Hogsmeade just a few weeks before. I grinned up at Theo.

"Oh Theo… It's beautiful, I'm speechless. Thank you so much!" I grinned, nobody had ever brought me jewellery before, and the closest thing I got was a gummy ring from an orphaned buddy of mine. I quickly pulled myself into Theo's arms smiling into his chest he allowed his arms to wrap around my back. I looked up to Theo's smiling face and he grinned down to me then he started doing something I very nearly pulled away from. He moved his face closer to mine staring at my lips, I stared slightly shocked at his closed eyes. I couldn't pull away I was kind of his girlfriend and although I'd made sure to talk him into taking things slow so that I haven't had to kiss him since that awkward night after Hogsmeade, however now it was kind of inevitable right? He was already moving in, and this was the kind of thing couples did to celebrate these sort of situations right? Oh god, this was happening. I cringed as I felt his breath against my lips and all of a sudden the door flew open making me jump out of my skin and nearly head butt Theo in the process of snapping my head around to see who had saved me from my fate. Draco Malfoy stood there with the three other boys from this dorm behind him, I glanced up at Theo to see him looking _very_ unhappy then shot a, almost thankful, glance at Draco.

"Sorry Nott, I tried to stop them." Blaise explained from behind Draco, Crabbe and Goyle, but it didn't even look like Theo had heard the boy speak as his venomous eyes did not move from Draco's face. I looked between the boys with slight worry as Draco's smirking face didn't leave my face.

"Oh, sorry, did we interrupt something here?" He asked sarcastically but got only a glare from Theo in reply. "It's funny you know because were as you obviously look mad to see me Nott, our dear friend Potter looks almost… Relieved." Draco said with a low smirk still playing on his lips as his eyebrows raised in my direction as though awaiting an answer. Theo's face distorted into a frown as his eyes landed on to my face I just stood there, shocked, like a deer caught in headlights. My eyes were wide and my mouth hung open as I tried to work out what to say to cool this situation down.

"No- I-" Is all I could manage before Draco interrupted with laughter.

"Oh, this is priceless." He grinned, Theo's glare landed back on him. "And what's that? You've just opened presents? Well let me see!" Draco hissed, he rushed over to me causing me to flinch slightly when he appeared by my side, and eyed my bracelet which I had now lifted out of the box and held in my hand.

"A snitch bracelet! Well, isn't that just beautiful? You really need a necklace to go with that sort of thing though no?" He asked looking at me with slight sincerity in his eyes, my eyes narrowed in suspicion but before I could speak Draco spoke once more.

"And what did she get you Nott?" Theo tried to hide the newly opened book behind his back looking a little ashamed that the book was his only present, but he didn't hide it well enough and Draco, still stood at my side, pointed at it.

"A book?" Draco laughed out, "Is that all? You brought her a bracelet and she brought you a measly book? Well I don't know what could scream out more that she isn't interested. Maybe she should have written 'lots of hugs' on the card with it." Draco teased I glared at him, then at Theo, I knew Theo wasn't saying anything partly because he didn't want a repeat of that day at Hogsmeade but partly because he kind of knew it was true.

"Shut up Malfoy. Leave mine and Theo's personal life just that!" I stood up to him he rounded on me looking me up and down.

"Or what Potter?" He hissed, I smirked at him having to use my real last name instead of 'Radcliff'.

"Just leave it Malfoy." I growled my green eyes staring into his steel grey ones as we stood there for a moment, I knew that Draco was thinking what I was. How badly I wanted him at that exact moment, his eyes slipped from my eyes to my lips and out of view of Theo a smirk appeared on his lips.

"Have a good night Kat I think me and Draco need to have a little conversation." Theo hissed from over Draco's shoulder I frowned at him.

"But Theo we-" I started but he cut me off.

"_We_ will talk on the way home tomorrow. Goodnight." He hissed, I didn't move at first my eyes going from Theo to Draco who just looked at my expression with wonder as though pondering as to what I was thinking. "Don't look at him! Just leave!" Theo hissed stepping forward he pushed his way past Draco and I felt his hand fiercely wrap around my arm.

"Ow! Theo! You're hurting me-" Then everything seemed to happen at the same time, as I tried to pull my arm away from Theo Draco shifted suddenly spinning on his heel and punching Theo in the stomach causing him to fall backwards, however he didn't let go of my arm pulling me towards him. I screamed covering my face with my free arm as I saw Draco pull out his wand. Theo pulled his out too pushing me off to one side, I tripped slightly stabling myself on one of the boys trunks I looked between the pair.

"Don't be stupid boys! Do you really want to do this? End up having your holiday privileges taken off of you and have to stay _here_ for Christmas?" I had no idea if the school could do that but anything to talk these two down would do. They still just scowled between each other I glared back over to the other three boys who had hardly moved since they had walked in, my glare signalling them to move. Blaise suddenly stepped forwards.

"I think it's about time we all just took a step back and thoug-"

"Stay out of this Zabini!" Theo hissed at the mediator of the situation, I sighed and stepped closer to the pair of them.

"Stay away from him Katrina! God knows what he'll do to you next!" Draco hissed his glaring eyes not moving from Theo's.

"Yeah Kat stay away from your _boyfriend_," Theo hissed, gaining him a sneer from Draco. "Oh yeah didn't you hear Draco? We're taking things slow but we're together." Theo grinned rubbing it in to Draco, "Look!" And with that Theo grabbed me and pressed his lips into mine but before I had the chance to push him off of me I saw a bright light and Theo was across the room his wand flying on to the bed beside me. I pounced on to it grabbing his wand and pointing it to Draco's wand.

"Expelliarmus!" I squealed the wand flew out of his hand and on to the floor nearer to me; I pounced at this one too holding on to both the wands. The two boys looked at me then to each other and with a sneer they lunged at each other I screamed out the first spell I could think of.

"Protego!" And with that a shield was produced between the two boys this gave me enough time to rush in between them.

"Stop this! It's stupid! Theo, stay here, Draco come with me!" I growled and quickly grabbed Draco by the scruff of his shirt and walked out of the room. I turned to Blaise as I left.

"Give this back to him when you feel it's safe. Make _sure_ he stays in this room!" I hissed throwing him the wand. I dragged Draco all the way out of the common room it was only when the wall shifted back into place that I let go of his clothing. He straightened himself out,

"Yeah cheers for that!" He said sarcastically before turning heading back towards the common room.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you Draco!" I growled he turned on me with suspicion in his eyes but when he registered what I was doing he stopped in his tracks. I had a hold of his wand my hands at both ends of it and my thumbs in the centre; I had it gently bent as though ready to snap it.

"You wouldn't dare." He growled stepping forwards slightly; I cocked an eyebrow, bending the wand just slightly.

"Try me." I hissed and with the he reluctantly walked back towards me. I smiled and as we got a few corridors away I gave the wand back to him.

"Why do you do it Draco?" I asked my eyes giving him an imploring side glance that I hoped he didn't notice.

"Do what Radcliff?" He asked innocently

"Annoy Nott to no end, from what I've hear you two used to be able to tolerate each other…" I pushed he just shrugged his shoulders but before he replied I pushed further. "And you knew that we were in there together, Blaise had told you, why do you always feel the need to interrupt us? You have to be there when we're alone together, why?" I had no idea where all these questions were coming from why I felt like I needed to know what was going through his mind every time he had to inject himself into mine and Theo's situations.

"I don't know Radcliff, you just, he's… not good. You shouldn't be so trusting with him." Draco explained I frowned completely bewildered by this comment.

"What? What's that supposed to mean?" I questioned Draco frowned as though unsure what to say next he shook his head.

"Never mind-"

"Draco, you can't say something like that then tell me not to mind! What the hell was that supposed to mean?" I spat.

"It means he's untrustworthy! Not the kind of guy you want to be pals with! Why the hell do you think he has no friends?" He hissed I just scowled at him.

"He's been my only real friend here! I've had nobody else; my cousin doesn't trust me because of some stupid wizard house tradition! My other 'friends' in this house consist of a girl who only wants to be my friend because it means getting a good word in with the Dark Lord, a girl who hates me because she walked in on me and her boyfriend practically ripping each other's clothes off and you! The boy who's only friends with me so he can keep an eye on me." I sneered at Draco, my eyes finally hitting his as we walked through the school, and I saw slight sympathy in those grey orbs of his. "So if you have something you'd like to say about him just tell me already." I spat Draco looked me up and down, seemingly weighing up his options and the consequences.

"He's got a very short temper to say the least-" he started explaining.

"What? No he hasn't I haven't seen him get angry once and I've been with him non-stop for pretty much the past two months!" I argued Draco just scowled at me for cutting in. Suddenly we heard a teacher up ahead, Draco grabbed my wrist and silently pulled me into a class room.

"You have never given him a reason to get angry, think about it Radcliff, you spent all of your time with him constantly, him and no-one else, and he had your full attention 24-7 for two months! He had no reason to get jealous or angry of you giving anyone else attention because you, for very silly reasons, had secluded yourself from everyone else. Not everyone hates you Radcliff, some of us are trying to look out for you, which is why you should steer clear of Nott, he isn't nice, just ask your friend Davis, she dated him for a while." Draco explained.

"My reasons for secluding myself were not silly and- wait, what? Tracey was with Theo?" I repeated in utter shock, Draco nodded stepping back and sitting himself down on a table, I followed suit more out of shock than anything else, I sat down at the chair of the table Draco was sat on and suddenly noticed how close my body was to his side. I discreetly shifted the chair back a little and went back to thinking about Tracey and Theo. The strange thing was I wasn't jealous, I'd just found out a fellow roommate had, in the past, had a sexual relationship with my current boyfriend, if you could even call him that, and yet nothing. I felt more when I caught Draco with Pansy, what does that say about mine and Theo's relationship? I sighed throwing my face into my hands.

"Hogwarts is difficult isn't it?" I just nodded at the sound of Draco's words. "You're not likely to find a guy who hasn't dated someone in the school already, unless it's Longbottom." At this I let out a laugh before uncovering my face to see Draco looked as though he was actually smiling too, this thought was in my head for only seconds before I saw a smirk on his lips. Must have been mistaken.

"Can we talk about something else please?" I sighed out to him Draco nodded.

"Sure how about why you're not talking to Daphne?" He asked I frowned finally lifting my head to look at him and once again realising just how close we were, my face being next to his chest.

"How do you know about that?" I growled looking at him, he shrugged and looked away as though he really didn't care.

"Daphne complains to Pansy and she complains to me." He said glancing down at his leg which my hand happened to be very close to.

"I didn't think you two were together anymore? From what I heard after that fight on the Hogsmeade trip she broke up with you." I laughed slightly. "I'm sure you're very torn up about it." He glared at me.

"We're still friends and I broke up with her. Realised some of what she was saying about me and her was true. We're not meant to be together." He mumbled his gaze falling from mine.

"Oh yeah and what made you come to this brilliant conclusion?" I asked him smirking as I looked up at his now solemn face, my smirk faltered slightly, not enough for him to notice though. As his face lifted to look at mine though the cheeky look on my face quickly fell, the intensity in his eyes making me want to blush a little I continued to keep my green eyes on his grey orbs he looked as though he wanted to say something but couldn't. I was confused but I didn't show it, I was sure I wasn't showing anything but desire as my urge, my want for him suddenly sprang up through my body I felt the heat rise on my face and noticed that Draco's face had started to get closer to mine. I felt his hand on my cheek and I allowed myself to move into his touch, just as I felt the breath from his lips he went to speak he went to finally tell me the answer, the answer I felt I already partly knew, when suddenly the door of the classroom was thrown open. The sudden commotion caused me to jump out of my seat with a scream coming from my mouth and a sudden pain throbbing to my forehead. I had accidently head-butted Draco, right in the eye. He let out a yelp of pain bounding backwards and nearly falling off the table.

"What on earth are you two doing in here?" Snape's voice rang through the empty classroom, as I stood up I looked at Draco who was still hunched over with his hand to his eye.

"Oh Draco I'm so sorry-" I started as I stepped towards him, Snape's words cut me off though.

"Miss. Potter please leave Mr. Malfoy alone. He is fine I'm sure, explain to me what you're doing here?" He hissed at me, I gaped staring at him with wide eyes and nothing to say.

"Nothing Professor!-"

"Potter got lost. As her prefect I figured I'd come to find her." It was Draco who had cut me off this time, I glanced back to see his eyes was slightly red, I let a guilty smile spread across my lips.

"Get back to your common room. Now." Is all Snape needed to say before me and Draco slipped out of the room and rushed back to the common room. I apologised the entire way down to the dungeons but didn't exactly get an 'I forgive you', 'no worries' or 'it wasn't your fault' I just got various grunts and huffs in reply. We walked into the common room together and I looked to Draco before I left.

"Well that's enough drama for me for one night I think." I said with a laugh, I got a small smirk out of him but as he turned his head to the left to look at the boys dorm staircase the red mark on his face seemed to shine at me. I frowned and allowed my hand to lift up to it gently rubbing my thumb against it, the notion did not go unnoticed by Draco however he didn't jump at the shock of my sudden touch instead he seemed to lighten up a bit because of it, the smirk on his face now growing.

"I really am sorry for that." I mumbled he looked at me with a furrowed brow and I knew he was confused as to if I meant sorry for the eye or sorry for him not getting the chance to say what we both knew he was going to, I was confused myself as to which I was more sorry for. I softly smiled as I looked up at his smirking face and something took over me, I stepped forwards and rolled my feet so I was on my tip toes. I lifted my face to Draco and soon felt his soft lips against mine I gave him the sweetest gentlest kiss we had ever shared before pulling away. I fell back on to the sole of my foot and smiled up at him once more, his lips were parted just slightly and he looked as though he was still in shock at what I had just done hell I was still in shock at what I had just done. I blushed a little and quickly span on my heel.

"Good night Draco." I whispered before rushing up to bed.


	15. Chapter 15

**15.**

**AN: Sorry for the short chapter last time guys! I didn't realise just how short it was until I posted it! Here's a long one just to make up! **

It was the morning to leave for Christmas break and I was up extremely early, part of me for the fact that my excitement of seeing my parents again wouldn't allow me to stay in bed, although I'd never let them know about my feelings, and part of it was because I still had a certain present I'd yet to give to somebody. So at seven that morning when everybody else was still having a well-earned rest on their day off I rushed across the common room, still in my pyjama's with a difficultly wrapped dressing gown. I appeared at the fifth level of those stairs once more looking at the door with slight panic knowing any of the boys could walk out and catch me at any given moment. I shot over and placed the present upon the floor directly outside the boys door with a small tag attached to it that only read 'Draco' I'd gotten a random first year to write it just so he wouldn't recognise my writing. I blushed as though the boy who the present was for was standing right there looking at me, which he wasn't, that I was so very thankful for. Finally I rushed back down stairs not wanting to be seen, but that just isn't the way my luck swings and just as I stepped out the boys dorm's side my eyes landed on the common room doorway where I had just heard the wall slide shut. The last person I thought I'd see walked through his eyes suspiciously looking at me.

"Theo!" I exclaimed forcing a smile on to my face as though happy to see him.

"What were you doing up there?" He asked nodding towards the stairway he was probably just about to go up.

"Looking for you, I knocked but nobody answered. Where have you been?" I lied with such quickness I was almost shocked myself Theo's face crumpled in confusion for a second before he finally seemed to accept that what I'd said was true.

"Library. Why were you looking for me?" he questioned my minded fumbled around for a moment.

"Well, urm…" I really had to think things out before lying to people. "I thought you wanted to talk to me, you know after last night… Figured we should walk to the train together, get a good compartment to be alone in?" I thought on my feet, though after saying it I wondered just how much this lie was going to hinder me really. I wasn't sure what I wanted to say to Theo about last night just yet.

"Yeah, I suppose that would be an idea." He nodded I smiled and nodded back to him. He eyed my outfit with suspicion and I suddenly took notice of the fact that quite a few people were now beginning to fill the common room.

"I think you'd best go change first though, unless you want some _more_ strangers seeing you in your night wear?" Theo suggested causing a red flush to climb my cheeks as I glanced around at my fellow students to realise I was gaining quite a bit of their attention because of my outfit.

"Good point…" I mumbled "I'll meet you back down here in five minutes?" I asked Theo nodded as I started towards the stairs, suddenly a slightly worrying thought came over me.

"Oh and Theo!" I called to him, he turned back to look at me and I smiled to him trying to look as innocent as possible. "I noticed Draco had a present left for him outside your room." Theo smirked and nodded to me.

"Yeah, he's had a few anonymous ones, quite the admiration for that ferret at this school!" Theo sneered. "Don't see why." I just let out a very unconvincing laugh and walked up the stairs not wanting Theo to notice the sudden jealous glare that had come over my face. As I went upstairs and began to pack a few things that I hadn't already and as I got dressed I couldn't get the feeling out of my head, the thoughts had grown now though. It went from a few jealous thoughts over Draco receiving gifts from someone other than me to now me realising how silly I was to give Draco a present, what if he didn't get me one back but found out mine was from me? He'd never let me live it down. As I was lost in my thoughts walking back to the room from getting changed I didn't notice the small package that was sat outside the room until my toe collided with it. I looked down at the neatly wrapped green present and smiled; I leant down and picked it up 'Katrina.' It read across it and my smiled turned into a massive grin as I shook the thin box I had something move around inside it but decided not to open it until Christmas. I took the present inside and placed it into my trunk with everything else, my thoughts now on the anonymous present I had just put into my trunk and who it could have been from, I was thinking maybe Harry, though why he'd make it anonymous goodness knows. Just as I finished up and grabbed my owl, which I had gone to get yesterday, I overheard Pansy speaking to Tracey.

"I know he said it cost _so_ much money, it's worth it though cause it's totally beautiful and completely suits me." I rolled my eyes at her when I heard her vain voice, as though she sensed my frustration towards her she turned on me. "What do you think Potter?" She squealed I looked over to her noting the ugly leather white coat she was wearing, it took me most of my strength not to sneer at the grotesque item of clothing she had draped over herself.

"Of what Parkinson?" I asked and she smirked at me and stepped over her trunk and towards me.

"Of my coat of corse! Draco brought me it! Isn't it just the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?" She said smugly, again I had to fight off a sneer as the thing made that horrible noise leather makes when rubbed against itself.

"A coat? That's what he got you?" I asked suddenly Pansy's smug expression became nasty.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She spat I just shrugged.

"Just a little impersonal don't you think?" As I spoke my brain told me I was witnessing déjà vu only I seemed to be taking the role of Draco from last night's little show. She sneered at me as I spoke and her eyes looked me up and down.

"Well what did your boyfriend buy you then Potter?" She growled I smirked smugly.

"A snitch bracelet." I said just as arrogantly as she had spoken to me just moments before, but to my surprise she started cackling.

"I don't see this present anywhere Potter!" She said eyeing my wrists, I glanced into my trunk and quickly realised I had left it in the boy's room last night. I glared at her as she spoke again. "Besides, a snitch bracelet seems like a waste on someone like you, practically a muggle." She cackled again and I sneered at her.

"Oh yeah, I must have left my bracelet in the boys room when I was in there last night, trying to stop my boyfriend for beating your boyfriend up once more, you know after Draco went all jealous over me and Theo _again._" I spat venom but Pansy's face was completely priceless and as my smirk just grew Pansy's had now become an angry scowl. She let out a high-pitched squeal before rushing out of the room off to find Draco I expect. I smiled to myself completely pleased with my win over the pug-faced girl, when it suddenly dawned on me that I wasn't the only person in the room.

"Hey Tracey can I ask you something?" I turned to the slim quiet girl who was sat on the bed furthest from my own. She looked up at me her pretty eyes gleaming over as though before I spoke she had been caught in a total day dream.

"Sure." She spoke so quietly I almost didn't hear her.

"Did you… Well do you and…" I sighed and ran my hand through my hair as I walked over to the blonde's bed. I'd never really been in this sort of situation before so I had no idea how to phrase this awkward question. "Have you been with Theo?" I finally asked. Her first look answered my question for me, she looked almost shocked that I knew then her eyes left mine and she glanced to the floor taking a breath in.

"Yes." She said I just stared at her wanting more of an explanation but she clearly wasn't up to this kind of a conversation. I cleared my throat and pressed on.

"Look clearly you don't want to have this conversation, I can tell that much." At this she allowed her eyes to lift back to looking into my own her eyes screaming for me to stop but I needed to know. "But please just answer me this one thing…" She looked deep into my eyes and I could sense she knew what I was going to ask. "Someone told me he has a 'short-temper' they told me to ask you about it?" Tracey sighed and looked back to the floor, away from me. I sat down beside her. "Please Tracey; I just want to know what I'm heading into here." She looked back over to me and I saw a small guilt-ridden smile play on her lips.

"I don't want you thinking badly of him just because of me, mostly because if he finds out I told you what I'm about to tell you he'll kill me." She explained, I nodded even though a confused frown had hit my brow. "He has got a short temper and that is to say the least." She sighed and I could tell she was fighting with herself to tell me something. "He is not a nice boy, and you'd be best to get out of the relationship as quickly as possible alright?" She explained, I frowned and just as I was about to ask something else Daphne and Millicent walked in, Tracey looked completely relieved to see them. I just sighed and stood up off Tracey's bed.

"Thanks for the advice." I muttered, the sarcasm coming out a bit more then I had intended it to and I quickly left the room, trunk and owl in hand. When I got out of the room however I realised that I really didn't have any idea where to go, should I go see Theo now? I didn't know if I could hold in the anger and confusion. If what Draco and Tracey where trying to tell me is what I think it was did that mean Theo was aggressive? I wouldn't want him to hit me with one of the punches he's hit Draco with. I sighed and when a loud squawk came from Newton I realised that just standing in the hallway wasn't doing me any good. I decided that I would spring this conversation up on Theo in the train, at least that way he wouldn't have anywhere to run to. As I got to the common room I met up with Theo and we instantly started walking towards the entrance of the school. The entire walk, from the dungeons to the group of other students heading for the exit of the school, was silent between me and Theo. I could tell he was angry, I didn't really know why, he seemed fine earlier, probably had something to do with the fact I sent and very angry Pansy up to his room yelling about things that had happened last night.

"I forgot my bracelet last night. Do you have it?" I asked Theo just nodded before throwing his hand into his pocket and roughly passing me the bracelet. I smiled as I slipped it on to my wrist the sliver gleaming in the winter light, as I grinned at my bracelet my awe was cut short by a certain screaming voice coming from behind us. Theo and I both turned to look at a screaming Pansy and a less than impressed Draco. I sniggered into my scarf as I turned my face back to look at the front of the crowd once more only to be greeted with a glaring Theo.

"Think that's funny do you?" He growled, I just nodded slightly and he rolled his eyes. I just rolled mine back and glanced back at the arguing couple, Draco had managed to get Pansy to calm down a bit now however as he got closer I noticed that on his face, where yesterday there had been nothing now there was a large bruise around his eye much like the one he had got from Theo not long before. It took all my will not to rush over to him to see if he was okay, however I told myself it was only from when I had accidently head butted him and looked back to the front. Theo wasn't happy with me as it was, I'd expect he would kill me if I ran over to Draco because of a bruise.

The trip from the school to the station was a long drawn out one, it was deathly silent between me and Theo after he snapped at me and anybody who did know us could sense the tension between us and so didn't come over. I even saw Harry in amongst the crowd, his eyes landed on mine too and I saw the glee rush through them but as he started to head over I sent him a look and shook my head which seemed to send the message that I couldn't talk at that moment as he paused and walked back to his friends. Eventually we got into a compartment on the train after Theo dragged me as quickly and as far away from everyone else as possible. I sat down in the small compartment and took a deep breathe in, preparing myself for what was about to come.

"So…" I mumbled after a moment's awkward silence. Theo was just staring very stonily out of the window until I spoke, then his angry eyes landed on me. "Nice weather we're having eh?" I let out a small laugh at my own joke as my eyes took a second to look at the snow filled fields.

"Don't make a mockery of me Katrina." Theo spat my eyes fell back on to him with shock plastered over my face.

"It was a joke Theo, sorry but you're not exactly making this ride super straight-forward." I hissed but Theo just snapped back at me.

"I didn't mean just that pathetic little quip you just made Katrina! I meant all of this, the whole of the past few weeks!" I frowned at his anger but this just seemed to make him get worse. "Oh don't pretend like you don't know Kat! You know exactly what I'm talking about, whatever it is that you and Malfoy had, and don't even _try_ to deny that there's something between you two," He snapped as he noticed I was about to cut in. "It is still there, I know it, Parkinson knows it even you and Malfoy know it, deep down." He scowled at me, and I assumed that the next words out of his mouth were going to be that he was breaking up with me. Oh how wrong I could be? "Which is why I've been thinking about it and I think the only way we could work through this is if you stop seeing Malfoy. You're not allowed to speak to him, be near him or even look at him if I'm there or not." Theo's words had shocked me so much that I hadn't even been able to comprehend words to fight back to him for a solid thirty seconds. "Is that understood?" At first all I allowed out of my mouth was a disbelieving laugh, as though that would set Theo off into fits of laughter and it would come out this whole thing was just a joke. It didn't. In fact it seemed to just make Theo angrier if that was humanly possible.

"Are you serious?" I asked a confused frown spread across my forehead.

"Deadly." Is all he replied with I laughed again and shook my head.

"Theo, that's ridiculous! Are you honestly asking me to stop seeing and speaking to one of my friends because of a _feeling_ you have! That isn't fair!"

"It's completely fair Katrina! He's not _just_ a friend! Everyone can see it!" Theo hissed I rolled my eyes and stood up. "What do you think you're doing?" Theo growled again shooting out of his own chair so the two of us were stood extremely close to one another.

"I'm leaving Theo! You're acting pathetic and childish!" I hissed. "If you think I'm going to stop seeing Draco for such a silly reason then you're truly deluded!" Just as I moved to reach for the door Theo's hand twisted around my wrist and he moved our bodies quickly so that he had me pinned against the door of the compartment, his angry face inches from my shocked one as his grip tightened on my wrist.

"You're not going anywhere until you agree that you will stop seeing Malfoy!" Theo growled into my face my eyes glanced at my wrist which was turned a slightly red colour from how hard Theo was holding on to it. Fear spread across my face as I felt his other hand holding my other wrist to the door too only not quite as hard.

"Theo! You're hurting me!" I squealed at him but he just let out a manic laugh.

"Now who's deluded? I don't care if I'm hurting you if it means I'll get some god damn truth from you!" He spat the shock hit my face as my wide eyes stared at his face, it was twisted in anger but for a moment he seemed to realise what he said and remorse flashed upon his expression. I quickly took my chance at this moment of weakness and lifted my knee to collide in between his legs. Theo quickly let go of me as he doubled over in pain, I shot out of the compartment quicker then I'd ever moved and looked back in at him through the glass. He looked up at me with guilt covering his face and for a moment I felt bad as I lifted my hand to open the door again however my eyes landed on my red raw wrist which looked like it was already beginning to bruise and I changed my mind. I scowled at Theo before storming off to the left.

I wandered the compartments for a while, swiftly dodging Draco's, he was the last person I wanted to explain what had just happened to. I walked past one compartment and just on the off chance happened to look into it, I saw Harry sat with Hermione and Ron. A smile appeared on my lips but as I went to open the door and say hello my thoughts wound back to the way Hermione had treated me at Hog's Head and I decided against my actions. I continued past the compartment but not as unnoticed as I'd hoped as after I had passed I heard a door open.

"Kat!" I turned back to see my cousin I smiled at him.

"Harry!" I said he grinned at me.

"I've got some great news! Come in sit down!" He said reaching out and grabbing my unharmed wrist, I allowed myself to go with him and sat down in their compartment, much to Hermione's displeasure. Luckily she threw herself back into a book she was reading and I only had to deal with her disapproving huffs every now and then.

"Well? What's the great news?" I said as I noted the smile on both Harry and Ron's faces.

"Well Ron got an owl this morning from his mother and your family have contacted the Weasley's this year and Sirius and they're asked if you all can spend the holidays at the Weasley home! With us!" Harry explained the look of excitement spread all over his and Ron's faces, an aggressive page turn was all that came from Hermione's corner.

"Oh wow! Really?" I squeaked a grin on my face, I was happy to be spending the holidays there, just not excited. I didn't really know how to feel about it, I'd just expected that I'd be going back to the Malfoy's and, although I didn't want to admit it, Christmas spent with Draco sounded pretty appealing. But this plan, would this mean I wouldn't see Draco all holiday? I had a feeling that the Weasley's wouldn't take too kindly to me inviting him over for dinner. I shouldn't be so bothered by that thought should I?

"We're very excited to properly meet your family." Ron said I nodded as Harry spoke up.

"Yeah, plus I still have hundreds of questions to ask." I smiled at him.

"So how's this going to work then?" I asked wondering if I'd have some time with my parents alone first.

"Well everyone is going to be at the platform when we get there so we'll just all go to the burrow from there." Ron explained.

"Everyone but Sirius, he is a wanted criminal after all; he'll be at the burrow." Harry explained my smile faltered a bit as I realised I'd get no time with Draco and I nodded. The whole train seemed to be filled with excitement as we came to the end of the journey. I was still sat with Harry, Ron and Hermione as we discussed what the holidays were going to be like. As we started to reach the more rural area of the landscape I quickly realised that I had left my trunk in the compartment with Theo I explained to the boys that I'd meet them on the platform and I rushed off back down the aisle towards one of the end compartments. I peered in at first in hope that Theo wasn't there anymore, but I wasn't that lucky, he was sat staring out of the window. I sighed before throwing my hand on the door and pulling it open.

"I don't want to speak to you Theo I just came for my bag!" I growled instantly his eyes looked up at me with hope glittering in them.

"I'm so sorry Kat." He said I shook my head as I pulled my things out from the overheard compartment.

"I don't want to hear it Theo." I hissed landing my trunk on the floor and turning to storm out. I got two feet away from the door of the compartment before I heard Theo once more and fear ran through my chest as I feared he would attack me once more.

"Kat please!" He yelled I reluctantly stopped, unknowing of what he might do if I didn't, I glared back at him. "Just tell me, are we still together or not?" He asked a question that I had no answer to; I frowned at him and shrugged my shoulders.

"I need to think Theo." I hissed before turning to leave once more the fear still rushing through my chest as I worried for my safety. However when I turned my eyes landed on a different man, a man who I hadn't really been expecting to see. As my eyes landed on those steel grey ones I had come all too accustom to I blushed. Draco stood about four feet away from where I was stood half out of his compartment door. He was obviously just leaving it when he had heard mine and Theo's argument; my eyes remained on his as he suspiciously looked me up and down. Then his eyes lifted back to mine and we shared a look, a look of contentment, I felt completely happy now. The fear that had been roaming my insides just seconds before now gone, as though knowing that Draco was there made everything much better for me. I blushed at this thought breaking the long and silent eye contact we had just shared and quickly brushed past him without saying a word. As I got off the train my eyes searched for my parents or Harry or anyone that I knew was going to the burrow. But yet again the only person my eyes were drawn to was a certain platinum blonde haired person, he threw me a knowing stare from a few feet in front of me before walking past me and into a slightly hidden part of the platform, he disappeared behind a pillar and I assumed it was my cue to follow. I walked forwards into the shadowed area and stopped just behind the pillar so I was leant against it. Draco was stood opposite looking away from me and at another part of the platform. I eyed him in his green turtle neck and black trousers. He looked more like the Draco I used to know, the one I met before Hogwarts.

"What was that about with Nott?" He questioned still not looking at me. "You two breaking up?" He asked, I frowned and looked down at my shoes.

"We might be." I mumbled the reason for him wanting to talk to me becoming obvious now. I had something I wanted to talk to him about too though.

"Why?" Draco asked I looked back up at him to see his eyes were now on me. I sighed and looked back down at the floor.

"Why do you think Draco?" I questioned knowing he knew it was because of him and when I allowed my eyes to look back up at him the smirk on his face informed me that he did know, he was facing away from me once more. "Did you know I'm going to the Weasley's for Christmas?" I asked watching his reaction with complete determination. He looked back at me suspiciously as though seeing if I was serious, when he saw the stone look on my face he frowned and looked down at his own shoes.

"No I didn't" He said and I could sense the shock in his voice and something else. "Must be a plan of some sort." He explained any tone of sadness or anything else in his voice before now replaced with a matter of fact one instead as his serious eyes looked back at mine. I just sighed and nodded at his words as I looked over my shoulder to the slightly smaller group of students getting off the train.

"You didn't answer my question." Draco said dragging my face back around to look at him, he had moved closer to me now and his body was facing me as he looked me in the eye.

"Which one?" I asked, he smirked as our eyes made contact once more.

"Why are you and Theo breaking up?" He asked.

"It's complicated." I growled out, Draco laughed.

"Yet you think I already know? Just tell me?" He smirked again and I rolled my eyes.

"We haven't broken up just yet I-"

"Oh I know you just 'need to think' I was there when you said it Radcliffe, just tell me!" He spat cutting me off, I glared at him.

"We just aren't working very well at the moment-"

"Oh stop feeding me lies Radcliffe! Just tell me what's going on!" Again he cut me off, I got angry this time.

"Because of you!" I spat out glaring into his eyes at first slight shock hit Draco's face but soon after a smirk appeared. "He's told me if we are going to be together I have to stop seeing you." I explained and the smirk widened.

"And you said no?" The smugness in that one sentence was enough to make anyone sick.

"Yes." Is all I said, Draco's smirk grew again. I crossed my arm and looked away from his stare and back to the floor.

"Why?" He asked the question caught me off guard, wasn't it obvious why?

"Why what?" I asked.

"Why did you say no? Why threaten your relationship with Nott over me?" A blush rose on my face as I avoided Draco's deep stare. I sighed and glanced over my shoulder to see Harry and the Weasley's looking around with panicked expressions. I took my chance realising it would probably be the best way to get myself out of this situation. I stepped forwards towards Draco, my eyes travelling up his body until they reached those icy grey eyes.

"I think you know the answer Draco." I whispered, Draco's eyes moved from my eyes down to my lips and back again as a smirk rose on his lips. I felt his hand move on to my hip and excitement rushed through my body as I moved closer in to him so our faces were inches apart.

"Do I?" Draco asked the smirk still on his lips, I smirked too now.

"Oh yeah, cause it's the same reason you left Pansy for me." I whispered the smirk that had been on my lips now disappeared as a serious look spread over my face, Draco's face mirrored mine as he baited his breath in hope for my next words. "I fancy you Draco and you fancy me." With those words Draco smirked and pulled my lips into his for a sweet tender kiss. I took this as a sign that what I said was true.

"Katrina!" I heard my mother yell for me cutting mine and Draco's kiss short. I pulled away from him and Draco let out a sigh, I just grinned and pulled myself away from him.

"See you after Christmas Draco." I winked at him as I went to walk away.

"Enjoy your present Potter." He grinned devilishly and a smile rose on my lips as I realised what he meant. I rushed over to my parents.

"Mum!" I called giving her a cuddle as I reached her she smiled into my head.

"Where have you been we were looking everywhere for you?" She asked.

"Sorry, I was talking to someone." I smiled as my eyes glanced back to see Draco just as he walked out of the wall.


	16. Chapter 16

**16.**

**AN: Finally the feelings for Draco are out in the open! Yay! Sorry about the loooong break!**

I happily cuddled my parents as we left the train station and came out on to the street the Weasley's in tow along with Harry.

"How did you say we'd be getting to the Burrow again Mr. Weasley?" My father turned and smiled to the older red haired man he did not return the smile however.

"Actually there's been a change of plans, we'll be going to Sirius' place instead, is that alright?" Mr. Weasley asked and I got the impression that this question was determining more than if they just didn't mind the change in destination as suddenly all eyes had turned to my father. The man in question did not help himself as a slightly shocked look came to his face as he glanced over to my mother I frowned to the pair of them and then to Mr. Weasley who looked suspicious. A smile spread over my lips as I stepped in front of my parents.

"That is perfectly fine Mr. Weasley, excuse my father he was just so looking forward to seeing the burrow... How are we getting to Sirius' place then?" I really pulled that one out the bag who would have thought I would be able to out lie two Death Eaters? Mr. Weasley just smiled down to me before turning towards one of the many taxi.

"It's not far from here, we'll just get a taxi.." He said with a smile I nodded as I threw a look back to my parents who's faces were noticeably paler than before.

Mr. Weasley really wasn't joking when he said that Sirius' place wasn't far from the station if he'd told me it was this close I probably would have suggested walking. As we stepped inside the door, my mind still reeling from the way the place had shifted into existance Harry turned to me and my parents with a smile.

"Welcome to Grimmauld place." He said I smiled back to him nodding as I stepped further into the small corridor following Mr and Mrs. Weasley's lead as they rushed into the house and through a door at the end of the hallway. The hall was so thin I was surprised it was managing to hold all the Weasley kids, my family and Harry in it without bursting. Though the crowd was thinning a little as Ron and Ginny joined their parents in the room at the end of the hallway.

"This place has..." I was cut off by the twins.

"Dust..?" Geroge asked.

"Mold?" Fred joined him sneering around at the place I laughed at them shaking my head.

"I was going to say it has a rustic beauty to it but.." I explained they just turned their noses up in a mocking way.

"Oh that's just a fancy way of saying it's old!" They joked before moving away to join their family in the room I laughed shaking my head as I turned to Harry who also had a smile on his face.

"Right well, want to come meet Sirius?" He asked I smiled nodding at his words but as we went to move toward the room at the end of the hall my parents stopped us.

"Actually Harry we'll come join you in a minute, if it's okay with you we'd like a second with Kat?" My mother said with an innocent smile though I knew what she wanted to discuss in that second wasn't going to be so innocent.

"Of course..." Harry said throwing a smile my way before walking into the room.

"Oh Katrina..." My mother gushed out pulling me into a cuddle but moving her head so that her lips were beside my ear.

"It's good to see that you have made such good friends while at Hogwarts dear..." My father spoke but I hardly heard his words as he spoke my mother did too discreetly into my ear.

"Katrina the others don't know we're here, we don't want them thinking we're running out on them or they'll send people to kill us.." My father continued to speak over my mothers words about my new 'friends' but I wasn't listening as I focused on my mothers words. "The second you get the chance send a letter to someone you trust who is in on the mission but not someone obvious like Malfoy, just in case they're watching our owls..." She pulled away from me with a smile as she now started to speak and it was my fathers turn to hug me pulling me upwards so he could easily speak into my ear. I hated to admit it but my parents were acting awfully paranoid and weird in general, they weren't the same loving people I'd left back when I went to Hogwarts a few months ago.

"Oh darling it is so lovely to meet all of your friends your father and I were worried you would have trouble after being put into that awful house Slytherin, what a disgrace! That musty old hat of Dumbledore's must have made a mistake.." My mother spoke but again it was my father words I listened to.

"Sirius Black is going to be incredibly suspicious of us so prepare yourself for anything your mother and I already think he's on to us making us change destinations like this.. Just be ready Katrina, if it comes to it we may have to pull out of the plan for staying here over the holidays and take you back to the Malfoys..." He whispered but pulled away with another smile I just laughed at their smiles nodded along with them. Although my mind was racing

'Take me back there?! That sounds like they'd happily drop me off with the Malfoy's to be kept in their Dungeons again! What is wrong with these two?!'

"Yes, it's been great meeting everyone from Hogwarts, shall we?" I said motioning towards the door they both nodded and the three of us walked into the room a smile pulled on to my face and I prayed nobody could see the resentment hidden behind it. My smile fell slightly however when we walked into the kitchen/dining room to find everyone was sat around the table together with one man sat in the centre of it facing us as soon as we entered the room he stood from his seat Harry followed suit.

"Kat, this is Sirius Black my Godfather.. Jason, Michelle.." Harry explained as the long dark haired man stared walking around to our side of the table his unshaven face giving him a untidy look I watched him however his eyes were locked to my father.

"There's no need for introductions here Harry, after all I've met Jason and his... lovely wife Michelle before.." His eyes moved over to my mother but only for moments before they were back on my father as he now reached our side of the table and squinted at my father suspiciously.

"I remember you being taller..." He growled suspiciously his eyes examining my fathers face as he spoke my father did not remove his eyes from Sirius' though.

"I remember you being better looking..." My father did not skip a beat with his joke and managed to gain a few laughs from the Weasley twins Sirius however just smirked at his words clearly no less suspicious. His eyes moved down to me now and I smiled at him he sent me a half smile back.

"I've also met you before little Kat although the last time I saw you, you were nothing but a kitten.." He joked I allowed a laugh to leave my lips at his words he just smiled futher before his face dropped and he looked at all of us with a very serious look on his face.

"Right..." He said clapping his hands as he moved back round to his side of the table. "If it's alright I'd like to ask Katrina some questions then I'll get to you two however while I ask her these things I ask that neither of you speak or do anything to influence her answers..."

"What?! You're not interrogating my daughter!" My mother hissed slipping her arm around my shoulders I shrugged it off shaking my head,

"No it's fine mother, if this is what it takes for you to trust us I'll answer any question you have..." I said Harry smiled at my answer.

"Well, it's good to see at least one of you have a good head on your shoulders..." Sirius said glaring into my fathers direction. "Please sit..." He said patting the table in front of him to the empty chair opposite him I took the seat and smiled at him and all the Weasley's.

"Well Katrina, let's start with your childhood, do you remember much of it?" He asked I squinted at him suspiciously in all honesty the only part of this whole scenario that I enjoyed telling was my 'childhood' and that was saying something given that I was an orphan and until now hated reliving my past.

"Well, Sirius... As you may know my parents gave me up for adoption after deserting my aunt and uncle they did it to protect me, I'd be a lot harder to find in amongst a few hundred orphans." Sirius nodded along with my story as everyone seemed pretty enthralled by my words. "I grew up in the orphanage mostly sometimes I'd choose living on the streets over the orphanage I'm not the kind of girl that handles rejection well.." I laughed everyone else shared a smile too. "I got into some pretty bad things got mixed up with the wrong people with the wrong things.. Eventually I got myself out of the rut I was in something big happened to me and I didn't want it happening again.." After the way Malfoy reacted to me getting arrested I wasn't about to tell a group of people who already didn't trust me.

"So I changed my ways got myself cleaned up and finally managed to get out of the orphanage thanks to a family called the Radcliff's who then proceeded to use me as a live-in maid who didn't cost anything and planned for me to be impregnated by their daughters husband so that their daughter didn't have to go through the pain of child birth..." The entire room had fallen silent as all eyes stared at me I had a sneaking suspicion I'd been a little too honest. "That was until..." I paused as I went to explain about Draco's family saving me then realised. "My parents came and saved me..." I said with a smile looking up to my mother I was surprised to find her smiling back at me, I thought she'd be horrified maybe even upset, Mrs. Weasley was hiding her tearful face behind a napkin because of my story and she wasn't even the one who put me in the orphanage in the first place.

"Oh child, you have had a truly... fascinating and horrifying life.." Mr Weasley said as everyone else just stared at me shocked I just laughed and nodded.

"Tell me about it..." I said gaining sympathetic smiles from the twins. Sirius just stared at me it seemed my honesty had him at a loss for words he let out a brief cough pulling himself straight.

"And after that?... After they found you?" He asked I nodded to him of course he'd want to know that.

"Well, as you know we shared the week together before Hogwarts I wanted to get to know my parents again first before meeting anymore of the family..." I explained. "And from there I met Harry at the train station.." Sirius nodded to my words.

"Right yes of course, well I'm sorry for all that you've been through Katrina, I never would have wished that upon you.." He said I just nodded again.

"Satisfied Black?" My father growled Sirius glared up to him.

"I think I'd like to hear what you two did over the years now while your daughter was living on the streets and in orphanages what was it that kept her wonderful parents so busy?" Sirius snapped back to him.

The situation remained a tense one even after my parents explained their lives they moved around a lot, America, Australia but were always caught up to by Voldermort's men one way or another eventually they started living in places where the population was small and nobody spoke English that way they didn't have to make friends and they stayed out of trouble that way. Their lives were pretty boring other wise especially compared to my drug-fuelled childhood I sighed as I finally managed to leave the kitchen after we'd all explained our stories Mrs. Weasley insisted on cooking everyone dinner so we all had to sit around very awkwardly for that. Eventually Sirius left the room and the kids were all excused to go to bed which led to Harry showing me to the room I'd be sleeping in with my parents I thanked him and faked tiredness rushing in with my things and straight away I pulled my owl out of his cage placing him on the window sill before getting a quill and parchment out too. I stared at the blank paper for a while thinking about how exactly to word the letter I was about to write. As soon as my parents had told me I'd have to send a letter to somebody I knew exactly who it was just going to be work trying to word it so they would understand everything I was trying to say. I sighed as my quill eventually hit the paper before I knew it the words were spilling out and I was tying the letter to Newtons leg. Barely minutes passed from me allowing Newton to fly out of the window to me opening my trunk to try and find some pyjamas when I suddenly heard shouting coming from down stairs. I frowned when I recongised my fathers voice and quickly rushed out of my room to find Harry and the other kids already out in the hall. I passed them all by unafraid of the telling off I may or may not get for entering the argument that was happening in the kitchen only for them to follow me. As soon as I pushed through the door I found my parents and Sirius screaming at each other from either end of the room with the Weasley's between them trying to resolve the situation. I frowned at them all hardly able to understand what they were screaming at each other that was until my eyes landed on the things in Sirius' hands in one hand he had a hold of my rolled up parchment in the other something much more saddening to me.

"Newton!" I cried out rushing over to Sirius and snatching the small limp bird out of his hands. "What on earth have you done to him!?" I screamed at him staring down at the tiny owl praying it was still breathing.

"Oh relax it's still alive I just did a little spell to knock it out is all.." I glared up at Sirius as he spoke my look would have killed him if it could have.

"You paranoid bastard!" I shouted at him he just laughed.

"Oh yeah paranoid sure! I knew you were trouble and look what happens the first time you get the chance you send out a letter probably to your Death Eater pals right?! I know you're in Slytherin nothing good ever comes out of there!" He growled back at me I was seconds away from yelling at him about his own brother being from Slytherin but seeing as I got that information from Malfoy I thought better of it. Instead I just scowled at him and sighed letting out a little bit of anger I was holding.

"Have you even _read_ the letter?!" I hissed at him he frowned slightly looking down at the clearly unopened rolled up parchment.

"Well I didn't get the chance..." He said quietening down a little.

"Sirius, you're accusing her before you even read the letter?" Harry asked in disbelief. "You have no idea who it's even to?!"

"No..." He admitted I just glared at him.

"Go ahead, open it, _read it._" I hissed to him again my parents both threw me a worried look I just shook my head slightly hoping they'd understand.

"Fine!" He hissed tearing off the tie that was around it. "Dear Daphne, I'm having a lovely time with Harry and the Weasley's..." Sirius paused glancing up at me I knew why he did. "His god father, Sirius, has been a lot more understanding than I thought..." Harry sighed at his god father as did the Weasley's while my parents looked incredibly smug my worried eyes just fell to the still lifeless Newton.

"We had a change of plans we're at Sirius' place, 12 Grimmauld place- Why did you have to tell her where you're staying?! Hm?!" He questioned I glared up at him.

"_Keep reading..._" I spat at him he looked back to the paper.

"So let him know and make sure to send any mail you have for me here and before you say anything yes I know you're in on his plans so let lover boy know I'm staying here too, I wouldn't want him to send out a search party.. Hope your holidays are going well so far, speak soon, Kat..." His voice faultered a little towards the end.

"Lover boy?" He questioned I pretended to look a little embarrassed looking to my feet.

"Yes, I have a boyfriend as Harry will tell you," Harry nodded to Sirius now. "He has been planning a big surprise for me for weeks now and he was planning to send me something over Christmas. My good _friend_ Daphne is in on it and I wanted to let them both know where I could be found without wearing Newton out with two trips, now I'll be lucky if he can ever take a letter for me again..." I growled out looking down at the brown fluffy owl.

"I can't believe _this_ is how you treat family!" My father growled out to him.

"Can you blame me?! You left my friend, Harry's father for dead for your own selfish reasons!" He hissed back.

"Will you just drop it!" Harry yelled to Sirius this threw the entire room into silence. "I'm managing to accept them Sirius so why can't you!?" He hissed out Sirius looked genuinely hurt by Harrys response before Harry turned on his heel and left the room.

"I think it's time all you kids went up to bed, Kat dear give me Newton, I'll take care of him and make sure he's awake by the time you wake up tomorrow..." I nodded at Mrs. Weasley's words handing her the small owl before allowing the twins' arms to slid around my shoulders and lead me back upstairs.

After a while my parents joined me back in our room I'd made sure to stay awake just for this reason. As my mother moved over to me and hugged me my father used an Imperturbable Charm on the door so that we couldn't be heard.

"We'll need to leave before Christmas..." I whispered to them my father frowned back at me.

"Why?" He asked I shook my head.

"There's no 'big surprise' coming, that part of my letter was a code Daphne and her family are in on the plan but she doesn't know that I know that she's in on it, I was trying to tell her to that I knew she was and for her to tell Malfoy where we are..." I explained with a sigh. "I'd hoped he wouldn't be so suspicious of me and my owl... I was wrong."

"It's fine, you did very well, better than I'd anticipated.." My father said I frowned he was starting to sound like a real Death Eater now.

"Is it the Greengrass' that you're in communication with?" I nodded to my mother she smiled.

"I trust them, hopefully Mrs. Weasley will send your owl with the letter in the morning. We'll stay until Christmas and then we'll just have to fake illness and leave, get you back to the Malfoy's..."

"Why are we here anyway? What was our plan?" I asked confused as to why we'd come here in the first place.

"Well firstly to try and gain a little more trust with Harry..." My father said. "Which I think you may have actually managed to do with that little stunt down there..." He grinned I just smiled wearily back.

"And also to push a wedge between him and his God father, Sirius will be the one to come after Harry when the time comes and we need to postpone that happening for as long as we can..." My mother explained. "Which again it looks like you may have already put down some ground work for... Just continue your act, really push the fact that he didn't trust you.." I nodded to my mother a little surprised by her words, I wasn't acting I was pretty pissed about him not trusting me, not that I'm to be trusted.

"Oh and keep up this whole worried act with the owl, I like that I think that really helped on the Weasley front..." My father grinned devilishly I frowned at his look I had to say something.

"That wasn't an act, Newton is my owl, I was worried about what happened to him!" I said a little more aggressively than intended and my mother threw my father a look but I couldn't quite deceiver what it meant before my father pulled me in for a hug.

"Oh of course darling we know..." He said rubbing my back. "Now go get some sleep."

The next morning came quickly but before I had the chance to properly wake up there was a knock at the door my parents were still sleeping so I answered it to find Harry smiling back at me.

"Got a minute?" He asked I just glanced back at my parents then to Harry again before nodding I silently slipped from the room still in the black silk pyjamas that Narcissa had brought me all that time ago. Harry walked away from my door slightly I got the feeling he was weary of my parents hearing our conversation I joined his movements walking down the hall a little and standing in the entrance to the stairwell of this floor.

"I'm sorry about the way Sirius acted... He can be a little too paranoid.. You'll be happy to know that I spoke to Molly this morning and she said that Newton woke up more lively than ever she sent him with your letter to the Greengrass'.. He should be back soon." He added after I didn't react for a few seconds I just smiled at his last words. Although I was mostly just lost in my own thoughts my parents made a point to me that I needed to keep up my 'good work' and god knows what might happen to them or me if I don't.

"Great, that's... Great, thank you.." I spoke softly Harry just smiled at my words it killed me to think about what I had in store for him. Just as the silence had gone on a little too long and Harry looked as though he was going to leave me be I closed my eyes and sighed biting the bullet.

"What's up with your God father anyway? He seems a little more than just paranoid..." My words although fairly innocent felt like knives as I deceptively opened the cracks in their relationship my eyes now finding their way back to Harry's.

"He's always been like it, or at least as far as I remember.. I think it has to do with Azkaban, from what I've heard of the place it's bound to send anyone who ends up there crazy..." He explained with a smile I just nodded hoping to come across as understanding. "Especially if you're sent there for something you didn't do." At this my eyes fell again. "If you want to know what he was like before that though you'd have to ask your father from what I hear our dads and Sirius used to be quiet the threesome before your mother got her claws into him." Harry said with a laugh I just allowed a smile to run across my face as I nodded at him.

"Right of course, but I mean, taking out my owl like that, shouting at me over a letter to _Daphne_ I mean that can't normal behaviour..?" I pried to this Harry's eyes looked a little more fiercely into my own.

"Like I said, he's just a little paranoid, he's only trying to look out for me really..." He said a little more wearily than before.

"Yeah and I understand that but come on Harry he cast a spell on a defenceless animal!" I pushed too far I could tell as soon as the words left my mouth. My eyes met Harry's again he had an aggravated look in his eye.

"He was looking out for me, your parents haven't exactly given Sirius any reason to trust them since they disappeared before my parents were killed. Hell they abandoned their own child in some selfish need to stay alive doesn't that bother you as much as it does us?!" My eyes pulled into a squint at his last word.

"Us?" I questioned, last I'd known Harry and at least a few of the Weasley's were on my side. Clearly I was wrong they'd all been discussing it behind my back at least. Harry opened his mouth I couldn't tell by the look on his face if he was going to defend his words or if he was just going to avoid it but I'd never know as the twins had appeared on the stairs beside us.

"Morning Potters..." George smiled out both mine and Harry's eyes moved to the descending twins.

"Corr nice pj's Kat!" Fred said looking at my silk vest and shorts set I let a laugh leave my mouth as my own eyes fell to tug my shorts down a little.

"Cheers..." I softly said a little embarrassed by my appearance.

"You two coming down for breakfast?" George asked my eyes looked to Harry now.

"Urm, yeah sure..." He said moving to the other set of stairs beside us.

"I'll be down in a second I'm just going to go change first..." I said with a smile in the twins' direction before rushing back into my room. My parents were awake now but only just I explained what happened with Harry.

"Dammit Katrina you pushed him too far!" My father hissed at me I shook my head.

"How was I supposed to know he'd snap about it?! Besides I was only doing it because you two made such a fuss over it last night!" I hissed as I got into some fresh clothes.

"We get that Kat but you have to be a little more discreet, you did a good job last night _don't_ blow it..." My mother said almost threateningly I just glared over to her who were these people? Why on earth were they so determined to destroy their own Nephew's life.

"I'll meet you downstairs..." I said suspiciously to them before walking out the door and hitting the stairs.

I walked through the swinging door of the kitchen only to get that feeling that I was becoming all to familiar with, that the room had just been talking about me when I walked in. The room only had Sirius, the Weasley parents, the twins and Harry in it yet I still felt alienated.

"Good morning.." I said in a voice that I tried to make not sound like I was fed up of people talking about me behind my back.

"Good morning Katrina, would you like some breakfast?" Mrs. Weasley said as I moved to the table a scowling Sirius was sat a few seats away from me though he hadn't looked up from his breakfast yet.

"Yes please Mrs. Weasley." I said as polietly as I could muster as she rushed off towards the kitchen area.

"Your _parents_ not joining us Katrina...?" Sirius said the word with such spite I was half tempted not to answer him. My eyes moved over to look in his direction to find him glaring up at me from his hunched over position across the table.

"They should be down any-" As though they'd heard the conversation my parents walked through the door. Not only did they save me from having to deal with Sirius any further but so did Mrs. Weasley as she rushed over and handed me a plateful of food.

"Oh Katrina dear your owl Newton was feeling much better this morning so I just- My god Katrina what happened to your wrist?!" The older red headed woman questioned as I reached for the plate she was handing me with my sore wrist. I looked over to the wrist in question and knew that everyone else had too.

"Oh it was Theodore he grabbed it.." I explained now pulling back the purple arm.

"Theodore as in your boyfriend Theodore?" Harry questioned my eyes fell to him as I silently cursed my naturally honest ways. I stammered out a mumble of words before I found what I wanted to say.

"I urm, oh yes, it was an accident... he did not mean to grab be so hard.. I fell you see and he caught me by the wrist and urm, did not realise how tightly he was holding it..." I explained all at once not finishing any sentances before starting the new lie. Every eye in the room was on me and my now hidden wrist and each of them looked just as suspicious as the last. All except Sirius whose eyes were on my parents with almost more suspicion than all the others had.

"You would think as her _parents_ that you'd be a little more concerned about her wrist than you are Jason.." He growled out I glanced over my shoulder to my parents now my father looked back at Sirius as I threw my mother as apologetic a look as I could muster.

"We had already seen her wrist Sirius, she explained herself and the story, we accepted it, as should all of you." My father hissed I allowed my eyes to fall to the floor in front of my parents now not looking at Sirius but waiting for his response.

"You accepted that blatant lie that she just told?!" He retorted my neck snapped round as my eyes pulled into a glare.

"Sirius!" Mrs. Weasley scolded Sirius just huffed in her direction.

"Oh what Molly? You really believe what she just said?! It was a lie and everyone in the room knows it-" Sirius was cut off by me as I quickly stood up a glare still set in his direction he looked back at me with just the same amount of spite.

"I am getting terribly sick of all your accusations Black!" I hissed at him before allowing my eyes to fall around the room everyone was staring at me. "I'm sorry I seem to have lost my appitite" I grumbled before turning and heading for the door.

"You must understand I am just looking out for my god sons best interests!" Sirius yelled to my back but I ignored him hearing that my parents had quickly turned their attention to him. I ran as quickly as I could up the stairs and into my room. The Weasley's had been kind enough to give us a room with an en-suite it must have been one of the only ones in the dingy little house and I was quick to use it. I shot into the bathroom and locked the door behind me I even moved a chest of drawers in front of it. I backed away from the blocked door until my back hit a wall then I allowed my body to slip down the wall and managed to land myself curled in the small space between the toilet and the bath. Tears slipped down my face as I hid my face into my knees, I wasn't one to cry I'm normally stronger than that. However the amount of different emotions I'd managed to feel over the past four months had finally got to me, I was in such a fucked up situation and it was just now hitting me. I didn't want to be the reason Harry died, I didn't want to feel this strange untrusting feeling I had towards the people who were supposed to be my parents, I didn't want or ask for any of this yet here it was I was stuck with it.

'I miss the streets...' I thought to myself as I wrapped my arms around my legs tightening the squeeze around my head.

A while passed after Katrina's outburst and after letting them have it at each other for a few minutes the Weasley's and Harry finally stepped in to cool the situation that had arisen between the Potter's and Sirius. After much reasoning and a little guilt thrown in Harry finally managed to get Sirius out of the room and upstairs into his own room. The pair just stood there for a while Sirius glaring into the wall beside him his back to Harry while the latter started at his God father's back before speaking.

"You can't keep at them like this Sirius, if they are telling the truth you are pushing the only family I have away from me.." Harry said as calmly as he could, sure he didn't quite trust his aunt, uncle and cousin quite yet but Katrina was at least trying to prove herself.

"You can't seriously see them as family Harry?! They have been lying to us since the beginning I can _feel_ it!" Sirius turned on his god son now his hands landing on Harry's upper arms. "I'm the only one you can trust! I'm you're _only_ family Harry.." Harry just threw Sirius a reproachful look and Sirius sighed moving away from him again.

"I understand that we should probably give them the benefit of the doubt but in that case they should give us their full cooperation their full honesty!" Sirius sighed.

"They're not prisoners Sirius! They're not in our custody they are people, possibly family, you can't interrogate them every time you get the chance!" Harry said shaking his head Sirius nodded allowing his skull to fall showing Harry he was defeated.

"Alright I understand I will try to lay off with the questions but Harry _you_ must understand that you cannot be so trustworthy. The obvious wool that Katrina was trying to pull over our eyes down there is not acceptable." Sirius warned it was Harry's turn to nod.

"I know, that was obviously a lie-"

"I knew it! You can't trust-" Sirius cut Harry off but Harry just returned the favour.

"But she may not have been lying for her sake maybe she was trying to protect Nott, she might think we'd tell a Professor about him if we knew he was hurting her.." Sirius' eyes pulled into a suspicious stare at Harry's words.

"Harry what you are not grasping is that just the night before she told us that her '_loving boyfriend_' was going to be sending her some big surprise only days after harming her? Do you not think that situation strange?! What you must think is if she was not sending her dear friend Greengrass a letter about her boyfriend then who is '_lover boy_' and what is the plan she was talking about?!" Harry hadn't really thought about it like that his brow furrowed as he realised what Sirius was spelling out he nodded.

"I suppose that is a bit strange..." He agreed.

"Well there is one way we can find out if they're lying about it.." Harry looked back up at Sirius intreeged. "We wait until Christmas day and see what turns up.." Harry nodded to him. "But Harry please do me one favour?"

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"If her big surprise does not turn up will you at least be a little more wary of them... For me?" Sirius asked Harry looked at him for a long few seconds thinking it over before finally nodding in agreement.


	17. Chapter 17

17.

A week passed by and the drama and tension did not stop I hadn't taken part in any of it myself, ever since mine and Sirius' outburst I haven't been out of my room for any longer than I needed to be. I'd heard the tense situations and arguments from my room or on some occasions I'd even snuck to the hallway to listen in. It had been a long week, I wasn't really speaking to anyone not even my parents. Every time they came into our room I always pretending to be sleeping or pre-occupied with a book, that was the only upside to all this I was getting some learning in. However one night after a dinner that I had been dragged down to by my parents I was on my way to sneaking back upstairs to hide in my room again when Ron and Harry stopped me holding their brooms.

"Good night boys..." I said as calmly as I could going to pass them by but they just moved back into my way.

"Actually Kat we were hoping you'd be up for a little lesson in flying?" Harry asked I looked between him and Ron before answering.

"Er, actually you know I'm not really feeling too great..." I lied I felt fine but we only had a week until Christmas and my parents and I needed to leave the house before then. We'd agreed to lay down some ground work for me to feign illness when the time came. They had been using the fact that I was rarely leaving my room as excuse saying I wasn't around because I was ill.

"Oh come on Kat you've barely been out of your room all week! You're probably ill cause you're cooped up in there all day and you need some fresh air!" Ron complained.

"And there's no better way to do it than on broomstick, trust me!" Harry smiled I sighed scratching the back of my neck. My mind couldn't help but think about the fact that even though we'd been doing a pretty poor job of it so far we still had to win over Harry's trust. Besides it might actually be fun so with that in mind a smile slipped on to my lips.

"Okay then..." I grinned getting two smiles back in return as Ron handed me a spare broomstick and I followed them into the small garden.

"Won't people see us?" I asked my eyes looked around the the very rural area we were in.

"That's why we do it at night.." Harry explained as he found a good spot.

"Besides, you'd be surprised how many people don't notice what's going on right outside their own windows.." Ron said I just laughed turning my head to look back into the windows of the houses beside number twelve before Harry grabbing my broomstick got my attention.

"Alright well you're going to have to get on it first flip your leg over to the other side of the stick and hold it between your legs with your hands here..." He said pointing to a particular spot on the handle I frowned at him.

"Wait I actually have to sit on this thing like a proper one of those witches out of those old horror movies?!" I complained Ron and Harry shared a look before letting a laugh leave their lips.

"I'm sorry to tell you Kat but you kind of _are_ one of those witches out of those old horror movies..." Harry joked I just laughed nodding.

"Good point, I take back my previous statement.." I said Ron just nodded.

"Probably for the best.." He laughed as I swung my leg over the broom.

"Alright now just use your hands to pull up SLOW-" Harry went to explain but as soon as the word 'pull up' had left his mouth I was twenty or thirty feet in the air. I screamed my arms pulling the stick close to my chest so I now had my entire body hugged around it. This movement knocked my broom off balance and before I knew it I was upside down hanging in the air. My eyes looked up, which was actually down, to the two boys to find them in fits of laughter still on the ground.

"Help.." I just managed to squeal out and after they regained some composure they jumped back up on to their brooms and flew up to me.

A while passed and by the end of it I still wasn't any better than when I'd started but if nothing else it had helped me to cheer up a little. As I shakily landed my feet to the ground on my own for the first time since I'd been out there the boys gave a little cheer.

"Well done, it only took you two hours to manage to land, but don't worry you're getting there.." Ron said I just laughed at his words.

"Yeah I don't think I'm going to be joining the Quidditch team any time soon.." I joked making both the boys laugh Harry shook his head.

"Well with Umbridge banning half the Gryffindor team from Quidditch you'd probably be helping us by joining the team!" The three of us laughed a bit before Harry's words made me remember something and my traitorous mind took over again.

"So you never did tell me how that thing in the Hogs head turned out? Did you guys make your little after school club?" I tried to continue the jovial atmosphere but both their smiles dropped at the question as they glanced to each other. "Oh come on you can't even tell me about it now?"

"It's nothing personal.." Harry explained.

"Yeah it's just that, well Hermione would have both of us turned into toads or merlin knows what if we told anyone, not just you.." Ron said his voice slipping slightly at the end.

"But I bet she still warned you before you left didn't she?" I asked my question more towards Harry than Ron he glanced back at me guiltily before nodding I sighed. "I guess I can only expect it..." I said sadly. "Can you at least tell me the name?" Again they shared at look before Harry gave in.

"Of course, we're calling ourselves Dumbledore's Army, silly we know but if you knew some of the things going on with the Minister of Magic and that witch Umbridge you'd understand the humour behind it.." Harry explained I just smiled at his words I opened my mouth to point out that I'd probably understand the '_humour behind it_' if I was allowed to know more about the group in general but decided against it given that I'd already pissed him off once this week.

"Well it sounds like you guys are having a lot of fun with it, really.. Doing something.." I smiled they both just nodded none of us had noticed that we had gained an audience. Sirius was stood at the doorway back into the house watching us.

"I think you all had better be getting up to bed soon, Molly's head looks like it's about to explode a little more each second you spend out here..." He spoke causing us all a little alarm but once we realised who it was we settled Ron just laughed at his words as he passed and went inside. "Plus I'm sure your _parents_ are worried about you too Katrina, though they haven't come to check on you.. In almost two hours.." Sirius said suspiciously he gained a look from Harry I just sighed and moved to go inside. Just as I reached him however I wasn't sure if it was the fact that I'd just had such a good night with the boys or if it was my traitorous side coming out again but I felt a need come over me causing me to turn on Sirius with a glare on my face.

"I understand that you don't trust me Sirius and to be quite honest I don't trust you either, that stunt you pulled with my owl was reckless and impulsive and although I usually like those traits in a person yours was unneeded. However you _can_ trust me when I tell you this; I will make sure nothing happens to your God son, _my_ cousin.." My voice rose slightly as Sirius allowed a scoff to leave his mouth. "I didn't have anyone in my life, no family, no friends, no magic until four months ago. Now here I am with a family, friends and a life I never could have even dreamed of having back when I was stuck in the life I had before." Sirius' eyes seemed to look at me with a new look as I continued. "I am here Sirius, whether you like it or not I am here working harder than I ever have in my entire life to learn magic so I can fit into a school that hates me and having to play house with the parents who abandoned me into the worst place I've ever been. Despite all that I am still here having one of the most invigorating experiences of my life and all of that, my family, my friends, my magic... The only reason it came about is because I am related to Harry so believe me I will not let anything get between him and me." As I spoke I couldn't shake the feeling that I wasn't just convincing Sirius about this. My mind raced to thoughts about how I could save Harry not give him to Voldemort I turned to look back at him he smiled at me I returned it before looking back at Sirius then walking into the house. I needed to get away from that situation before I managed to talk myself into telling Harry the truth. I reminded myself what was at stake if I didn't hand Harry over, my parents life, _my_ life, my thoughts slowly came back around to realising that this had to be done, I was dead otherwise. Although my thoughts were incredibly selfish I couldn't help thinking that maybe this was the true Slytherin coming out in me.

A couple more days passed by and before I knew it Christmas was only four days away and strangely enough it was Sirius and Harry that were the only people protesting when my parents informed the group that we may have to leave because of how 'ill' I was getting. Obviously I wasn't there to get their protests said to me, no the day after the night I'd spent flying with the boys my parents decided it'd be best for me to stay in 'bed' from then on. I was listening in from my room again.

"I just think it'd be nice if you stayed at least until Christmas.." I heard Sirius' voice, his sudden change of heart hadn't gone unnoticed by my parents.

"Since when have you wanted to be nice?" My father growled but from the way my mother stepped in I could tell that must have annoyed Sirius.

"It would be lovely and we will try our hardest to stay until Christmas but unfortunately I just don't think we're going to be able to, Kat is up there now bed bound... We don't want to put our daughter under any more _unneeded_ stress.." My mother explained I heard Sirius scoff in return.

"Since when have you cared about your daughters needs...?" He spat back I had to admit my parents had walked into that one I heard my father clear his throat clearly readying himself for an argument but Mrs. Weasley intervened.

"I would be happy to take a look at her myself and help out, I've had to care for sick children before I can be quite the help." She said sweetly.

"Thank you very much Mrs. Weasley but we would rather not risk you getting ill too.." My mother played that off surprisingly well. "And despite what Sirius thinks I am more than capable then looking after my own daughter!" She hissed I couldn't help but silently applaud my mothers quick wit from my spot in the middle of the room laying with my ear to the floor. As the table seemed to delve back into general chit-chatter and tense silences I heard something flutter into the open window and before I knew it I felt something light land on my back. As I lifted my head to look over my shoulder at what it was I heard a familiar hoot.

"Newton!" I whispered excitedly as I moved my body so I was sitting up he hovered above me until I was settled then landed back down on my knee. I noticed the rolled up parchment tied to his foot and took it off him before pulling a half eaten bread roll that had come with my dinner down off my plate and tearing bits off for him. He happily gobbled most of the bread up as I untied the scroll between chunks.

'Kat,

It's great to hear from you, I'm happy to know they haven't been treating you badly there.

I'm also glad you know that I know about the plan, you must understand that not telling you was killing me. We've informed the right people about your destination don't worry there isn't going to be a search party.

Lover boy hopes to see you soon.

All the best,

Daphne.'

I thanked the stars that Sirius hadn't got his hands on this letter instead of mine, Daphne wasn't as good at covering up as I was either that or she just didn't want anything to get lost in translation. My mind wondered on her last words when I'd written the letter 'lover boy' was meant as Draco I figured if she told him where I was he would be able to inform the Dark Lord. Now though I wasn't sure if she'd thought I had meant the Dark Lord himself if that was the case why would he be hoping to see me soon? As though they had heard my thoughts my parents came through the door just as I stood up, Newton now moving to the windowsill, I held out the letter to them.

"Well that's good to know, at least nobody is coming for us.." My father whispered.

"Do you think they have worked out that we won't be able to stay here for Christmas now? Maybe that's what is meant by the 'hope to see you soon'?" My mother asked my father in hushed tones they acted like I wasn't even there not that I really minded it was nice to know I wasn't the only one confused.

"Maybe, we'll see, I'll apparate from here early tomorrow morning and give Lucius a visit.." I frowned at my fathers words, since when were we on first name basis with the Malfoy's? The couple who kidnapped me and threw me in a dungeon?

_'Well you're on a little more than first name basis with their son...'_

_'Point taken..'_ I thought to myself as I climbed back into bed I just wanted my time at Grimmauld place to be over now, it was far too tense. Although given the dramatic end to mine and Draco's last conversation was I really sure I'd rather go there instead? I sighed into my pillow.

Before I knew it Christmas Eve had arrived and the rest of the house was all still pretty adamant about us staying, Mrs. Weasley was even giving the options of either we stay or she comes up to see me herself before we go. As I laid across the floor again with my ear to the ground listening in to what was happening I thought back to what had happened a few days before when my father popped over to see the Malfoy's. He'd managed to get out and back in with no trouble from Sirius, somehow, I blamed it on the fact that he went while everyone else was sleeping. The only issue was that from the sounds of things the Dark Lord wasn't happy that we'd managed to muck up our only chance to really get between Harry and Sirius despite the fact that we had managed all that we'd done. However my lovely quarters back at the Malfoy manor were available to me whenever I wanted them and this time around my parents were even allowed to come and stay there too. A little fact that had been nagging at me for a while, why now were we trusted not to run off the first chance we got? That is what he worried we would do before after all? Had something changed back at the manor or was it what I'd been dreading this entire time and that something had changed about my parents? I sighed into the floor as I laid there listening to the still arguing families suddenly I had the need to use the bathroom.

"She's not even that sick!" I heard Sirius hiss over to my parents.

"She is bed bound! She cannot go more than an hour without vomiting and she has a fever! How is she not sick!?" My mother hissed back to Sirius I couldn't help but frown at how over dramatic they were both being I wouldn't be able to fake that. As I stood and moved over to the bathroom trying not to make a sound so that they wouldn't catch on that I was moving about I found that I wasn't that lucky as a creak came from the boards beneath my feet forcing me to move to a different spot but I could already hear that they had heard. There was some commotion from below me and soon it'd hit the stairs. My bathroom needs suddenly seemed to disappear as I leapt to my bed pulling the covers over me I was shocked to find my father burst into the room with his wand out I frowned at him but before I had a chance to speak he called out a spell that I didn't recognise the light hit me like a dagger to my stomach and before I knew it I was vomiting, violently, on to the floor I rushed over to the bathroom as quickly as I could but not before the entire household followed my father into the room to witness my ill state. As I glared into the bottom of the toilet having to flush down my dinner every few minutes I couldn't help but curse my father.

"We told you she was ill..." My father hissed obviously towards Sirius I had no idea what Sirius' reaction was to this as I couldn't look away from the toilet for fear of ruining more of the Weasley's carpets.

"Oh Katrina dear are you alright?" I heard Mrs. Weasley ask and heard the floor boards speak as she obviously stepped towards me but my mother quickly stepped in.

"It's okay Mrs. Weasley I will look after my daughter, thank you for your concern but we don't want you catching this." She hissed before I heard her close the door to the bathroom and appear at my side.

"What the hell is this?!" I said as I had time to breath.

"Our contingency plan..." My mother whispered into my ear as I coughed into the bowl once more.

Christmas day came and within hours of being awake we were leaving the house, although my father had taken the spell off of me I was still vomiting every so often and felt very ill. Apparently a side effect of the spell though I wasn't sure if it was just more of my parents' 'contingency plan' I glared at them as we descended the stairs and came to the hallway with Harry and the Weasley's. I had a blanket wrapped around my shoulders and a bucket hugged to my chest. I handed over the bucket to Mrs. Weasley when I got close enough with a smile.

"Thank you for inviting us here, we are sorry we couldn't spend the whole day with you all but have a wonderful Christmas and we will see you again soon..." My mother said as my father carried our bits out into a taxi.

"You're quite welcome it was nice having you all here, thank you for coming. We will see you soon." Mr. Weasley said as we all said our goodbyes I managed to get hugs off the twins despite my ill state.

"See you at Hogwarts Katrina.." They said I just smiled nodding to them before Harry moved into my view.

"Here, I got you something..." He said passing me a wrapped present I frowned at it shaking my head.

"Oh Harry I didn't get you anything... You really shouldn't have.." I said, I honestly wasn't expecting him to get me anything at all he just smiled.

"It's okay Kat it's only something small anyway, just a little thank you for coming into my life..." He said I smiled and hugged him.

"I'll see you back at school..." I mumbled into the hug before pulling away saying my final goodbyes and following my mother out of the house. As the three of us climbed into the taxi my father turned to my mother.

"Did you not find it strange that Sirius was no where to be seen?" He asked

"Well he's not exactly our biggest fan.." I growled out my parents just threw me a suspicious glare before continuing their conversation.

"Well that is why we're not going straight to the Malfoy's is it not?" My mother asked I frowned.

"We're not?!" I questioned trying to remind them of the fact that they had a seriously ill daughter still sat with them.

"We can't risk Sirius following us there.. We're going to the Leaky Cauldron there Lucius will be waiting for us disguised by polyjuice potion. From there we will apparate, Sirius wont be able to follow that." My father explained I couldn't help glaring at him, yet more hidden plans. Poly juice potion was one I actually knew, Snape had taught me about it, no doubt in case I'd ever need it. I sighed as we pulled up to the Cauldron climbing out still with my blanket wrapped around me. I glared around the area there was no Sirius in sight though I knew my thoughts were petty obviously Sirius wouldn't just jump out and reveal himself but it still aggravated me to be trotting all over the place like this. We walked into the Cauldron and soon my fathers eyes landed on a stout old man his width bigger than his height wearing a dreadfully ugly suit with a large outlandish feather pinned to the front of it.

"Ramdin!" My father called out to the man pulling him into a hug they shared some discreet words that I couldn't hear and wouldn't have probably even noticed if it hadn't been for how close I was to them.

"You ready to get this little one home then?" This Ramdin questioned my parents nodded and before I knew it Ramdin had pulled me into a hug and I got that awful sensation of something sucking me up again. My feet felt steady again and I pushed away from the man.

"What the hell do you think-!? Oh god..." I hissed but cut myself off as my stomach twisted around and I felt like I was going to vomit. The stout man sneered at me handing me a bucket as I heard two pops enter the room. The room, it took me this long to realise I recognised it, we were back in the dining hall of the Malfoy manor I remembered all the breakfasts I'd shared with them here which meant..

"Mr. Malfoy?!" I asked in the direction of the stout man stood beside me.

"Good to see you haven't got any smarter child.." He hissed and I recognised his voice I just glared at him before my stomach turned again and this time something came up I hugged the bucket as my breakfast appeared in it Ramdin or Lucius rather, just sneered at me.

"What's wrong with her..?" He hissed to my parents brushing himself off as though he still had me on him.

"We had to curse her Sirius was more stubborn than we thought.." My father piped up now as I realised the two pops I'd heard were them turning up.

"Yes, we need to discuss that but first.. Sansin!" He called out and out of one of the doors at the end of the table appeared a house elf.

"Y-Yes sir?" The small female elf spoke quietly Lucius shook his fat hand my way.

"Take Miss. Potter back to her usual room.." He sneered looking at my bucket with disgust, obviously he was not one for sick children. I followed the little elf back to the one part of the mansion I was more than familiar with, as we entered the first dark room I had rather hoped Malfoy would be there waiting for me. He wasn't in fact the room looked like it hadn't been touched in weeks then I remembered that this wasn't Draco's usual room he probably wasn't sleeping here while I wasn't around. As the elf passed through the room and into the usual sunset yellow one I knew too well I turned to her. I knew she was only going to be on guard duty outside my room anyway so I figured now would be as good a time as any to ask her something.

"Hi Sansin is it?" I asked I'd not spoken directly to one of these elves before in fact I wasn't even sure they were allowed to speak to me.

"Miss. Potter I'm a-afraid I shouldn't be speaking to you-" She squeaked out I cut her off.

"Of course I know and I won't say anything I promise I just want to know one thing..." I said as quickly as I could her large shiny eyes looked up at me sheepishly. "Where is Draco Malfoy?" I asked she glanced to the door as though worried Lucius could still hear her then looked back at me.

"Master Malfoy is with his Mother and some guests they have for Christmas, in the living area, if you request his aid I can go fetch him-?" She asked I shook my head making her mouth close quickly.

"No, no that is quiet alright Sansin, in fact I'd rather he not know about this conversation at all so I won't tell if you don't..." I laughed Sansin pulled what I could only assume was a smile before dropping the look and shutting the door. I walked over to the large bed and fell on to it sprawled across it diagonally as my sick body finally got the rest it was so needing.

I had managed to fall asleep and when I woke up I wasn't even sure what time it was but I assumed it was just later in the evening of Christmas day. I could see from the large windows beside my bed that it was darker out than it had been before. I moved in the bed realising I hadn't even had the energy to get under the covers instead I was just using the blanket from the Weasley's. Then my ears heard the real reason I'd woken up now, there seemed to be some kind of disagreement going on out side my bedroom. I could hear the squeaky voice of Sansin the little house elf I'd been speaking to I sat up in bed and looked to the door.

"I'm sorry Master it's just Miss. Potter is sleeping I wasn't sure if you would-"

"Just move already elf I'm in a hurry.." And with that low growl that I recognised the door burst open shining the light from the other room into my own hitting my tired and sore eyes with a burn. I raised my arm to cover my eyes as I smiled at the shadowed man stood in the door way.

"Merry Christmas Malfoy..." I joked, within seconds my own light switch flicked on and as my eyes finally got used to the light I could see Draco's face though it wasn't pulled into a smirk like I'd expected instead he just looked confused.

"What are you doing here?" He growled my brow pulled into a confused frown now.

"Sirius forced our hand, didn't your father tell you? He knew about this three days ago.." I explained Draco shook his head.

"He's been busy.." He explained walking to the centre of the room now. "What's wrong with you? Are you ill?" He asked sharing his fathers sneer I sighed nodding.

"Yeah my parents' _contingency plan_ they cast a spell on me to make me ill, apparently I'll be fine by tomorrow.." I explained his sneer remained.

"Lovely.." He growled then silence fell as the thoughts of our last conversation played on my mind strangely enough it was him to break the silence. "Listen Potter, we've got to talk.." He said I smiled glad he thought so too.

"Yeah I know, I've been thinking about what we said to each other too-"

"No listen, I have to tell you something and it needs to be quick before-" He cut me off only for someone to do the same to him.

"Draco!?" I thought I recognised the voice.

"That happens..." He mumbled under his breath.

"Where are you Draco!?" I knew I recognised the voice in fact, my eyes glared up to Draco when I realised it.

"Malfoy tell me that isn't..." He wouldn't look at me but I didn't need his answer as shortly after my words Pansy Parkinson came through the doors of the first bedroom.

"Draco what are you doing...? Oh Potter, you're... back?" She questioned both me and Draco it seemed I glared over to him as did she. "Did you know about this Draco?" She questioned I sighed, my body wasn't up to this, I needed more sleep and less stress these two arguing wasn't going to help that.

"No he didn't Parkinson.." I sighed out to her pulling at my shoulder as I did. "He was just asking me the same thing you are, why I'm back, he had no idea I was here.." I explained saving Draco the fight in the corner of my eye I saw him throw me a look but I didn't want to know what it was.

"Oh, well why are you back Potter? And what's wrong with you?" She asked again a sigh left my mouth.

"I'm not well Parkinson.. I need some rest.." I said in a dull voice my eyes finally glaring their way over to Draco. "If you want some answers go find them from someone else... Now leave." I continued more towards Draco than Parkinson but of course it was she who answered.

"Excuse me?! Remember who you're talking to Potter! This is the _Malfoy_ manor not the Potter one, as if your family could even afford such a beautiful house." I just sighed at her words, it always went back to families and money with these people.

"Just leave Parkinson before I break your pretty little boyfriends face!" I hissed Draco just glared at me as Pansy went to retort though his glare turned on her.

"Leave her be Parkinson.. Let's go.." He growled I sighed for the hundredth time only this time it was out of relief.

"What?! Draco are you just going to allow her to talk to us like that?! She's a _Potter_!" She growled out I stood up now as Draco moved over to Pansy grabbing hold of her wrist.

"Shut up Parkinson!" He hissed as the pair left the room I slammed the door behind them before turning and running back over to the bed. I pulled the covers down now pulling myself and the blanket under them completely as I tried to hide from the world.


	18. Chapter 18

18.

I couldn't believe it, the one person I'd finally felt like I could trust with everything in this crappy situation I'd been thrown into has turned around and thrown it all back in my face. He makes me sick, though it wasn't like I wasn't used to this kind of betrayal, Billie used to cheat on me every other week. Draco was different though, I fell for his stupid charms, the exact thing I didn't want to do. I huffed into my pillow as I woke up my thoughts still on all that had happened I glanced over to the floor next to the bed to see that the windows were allowing bright day time light in. I'd missed Christmas, this was a fact that hit me quiet hard, admittedly it wasn't the worst Christmas I'd ever had but even at the Radcliff's I'd still celebrate it. Not this year though I'd managed to sleep through it, completely skip by it, I suppose that was my life now. I sighed again throwing the covers over my face as I had the sudden urge to cry. That was until I felt an overwhelming pain in my stomach I buckled over clutching my stomach curled in a ball on my bed. It hadn't even occurred to me how hungry I was, but I swiftly realised I'd not eaten anything since I was forced some toast by Mrs. Wealsey the day before and even that I hadn't managed to keep down. It was at these thoughts that something else occurred to me, I wasn't sick any more I felt fine I half smiled at least one thing was a bit better today. I got out of bed after another gut wrenching hungry growl hit and walked over to the window I had no idea what time it was but I hoped somebody was up for fear I may starve to death. I sighed glaring over to the door contemplating facing Malfoy who was no doubt in the other room I decided it was best to just get it over and done with plus my stomach wasn't stopping any time soon. I quickly got dressed into some fresh clothes and as I pulled the door open expecting to be welcomed by Malfoy's sneer I was shocked to find the room hadn't been touched.

"Good morning Miss. Potter.." I heard a squeak come from beside me my eyes fell to the small figure of Sansin stood next to the doorway. I blinked a couple of times as the scene hit me, Draco hadn't slept here last night. Is this how it was going to be from now on? No more Draco instead I'd just have a guard outside my room?! As my mind ran over this fact I couldn't help but look down at the little house elf with a devilish stare as I pondered on how easily it would be to take out a tiny thing like that. My thoughts of breaking free and escaping into the night were cut short by the door to the other room opening and my mother walking in.

"Katrina, good you're awake.." She smiled I didn't return it as I blankly stared at her. "Narcissa has invited us all for breakfast this morning, she wants everyone to sit down and have a nice meal together." My mother explained my eyes fell to the floor, _everyone_ including Pansy and Draco? Maybe even Pansy's parents if they were here too? This was all getting a little ridiculous, my stomach rumbled again but I contemplated the invite. I'd rather get Sansin to fetch me some food later if that was an option, hell I'd rather starve to death than face the awkward situation this was going to become.

"Actually Mother I'm still not feeling great after that spell, I think I still need a little while before I eat.." My stomach roared after I spoke as though it was speaking in defiance of my words. This did not go unnoticed by my mother who just glared suspiciously between me and my stomach.

"Are you trying to starve yourself? Kill yourself off so you can defy the Dark Lord and not kill the Potter kid?!" She hissed at me my jaw hung in shock at her words, _'Potter kid' 'the Dark Lord'_ since when were we one of the bad guys?! I didn't speak just stared at her completely thrown off by her words my Mother's stern look suddenly dropped as she seemed to realise what it was she said.

"Katrina darling I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that, it's just I've never had to deal with having a child before I don't know how to work it and the thought of losing you now because you _want_ to die.. It just made me angry my darling, I am sorry, come here..." She held her arms out I frowned at her for a second before looking down at Sansin. Although she probably wouldn't admit it I'm sure I saw her give a little shrug. I just stepped forwards and allowed my mothers arms to wrap around me.

"Now come on, I can hear your stomach rumbling from here let's go get you some food!" And with that she twisted her arm around my own with a little more force than was necessary and dragged me to breakfast.

It was awkward, incredibly awkward, it didn't help that by the time my mother had managed to talk me around to coming down everyone had already sat down. By the time we got there our places had already been set for us and everyone looked at us when we entered the room. I was sat between my mother and Draco who had Pansy on his other side and, I assumed, Pansy's father next to her. While my father sat opposite my Mother then beside him and opposite me was Lucius with his wife next to him and, again assuming, Pansy's mother beside her. Strangely enough Pansy looked remarkably familiar to her parents, they were all a damn ugly family that was for sure.

"I'm sorry we're late.." My mother said to Narcissa as we took our seats, Draco threw me a look from next to me but I ignored it, my main concern for this meal was to eat some food then get the hell out.

"It's quite alright Michelle.." Narcissa smiled I couldn't help but note that yet again we were on first name basis with the Malfoy's!? "Mr. and Mrs. Parkinson this is Katrina Potter..." Narcissa said I smiled up to the two adults on the other end.

"Pleasure to meet you, I share a room with your daughter back at Hogwarts she truly is a _delight_ to be around.." I tried to speak sounding as least sarcastic as possible and apparently it worked as even Narcissa smiled at my words Draco just glared into his meal though.

"Ah well, it is a pleasure to meet one of Pansy's friends.." Her mother smiled back to me I just nodded before delving myself into my meal that was enough talking for me. I just sat silently for the rest of the meal focusing on eating my food and trying not to listen in to the conversation I didn't want to end up dropping myself in it. As I sat staring into my food I felt something slip on to my knee it took me a few seconds to realise it was a hand, Dracos hand. I side glanced over to him he was just looking up to his mother who was speaking. When my eyes met his face I felt his hand slid further up my leg in an attentive way. My mind reeled as I looked back at my plate as I suddenly realised just how much I had missed his touch but I couldn't just accept this, he had his girlfriend sat the other side of him.

"Of course we are just so happy to have Draco's beautiful girlfriend and her family over as we are for every Christmas, you will always be welcome in our family... Even in the future when Pansy and Draco have a family of their own!" Narcissa laughed out crinkling her nose to the couple I nearly choked on a bit of egg as I felt myself inhale sharply at her words. I resisted the urge to snap Draco's wrist under the table and instead just slipped my own hand under there. I wasn't sure what Draco thought I was up to I imagined he thought I was moving my hand to hold his own as his fingers twisted around mine. However I simply pushed his hand off of my leg then went back to eating my food I noted him looking at me but made a point to not catch his eye. It didn't take long for me to feel sufficiently sick I wasn't sure if it was from the intake of food or from having to listen to Narcissa go on and on about Draco and Pansy. Either way I felt no need to be at the table any longer but as everyone else had been talking so much none of them had finished yet. I sat quietly for a few moments and as soon as a break in conversation came I cleared my throat.

"May I be excused from the table Mrs. Malfoy?" I asked her eyes fell on to me with slight shock as she seemed to check to see if it was actually me who had spoken.

"Why yes of course you may Katrina, and can I just say how proud I am for you're astounding manners..." She smiled Kat just nodded standing from the table and Narcissa clicked her fingers to a nearby Sansin who quickly rushed to my side. As we left the room and the doors close behind me I heard Narcissa speak again.

"Her manners are all my teaching you know? Before she came here she was like some muggle beast.." She explained I just sighed as I followed the tiny frame of Sansin back to my room.

That night I found myself fairly restless I blamed it on the fact that I'd managed to sleep for an entire day the night before. I sat at the bottom of one of the giant windows in my room and just stared out across the landscape of the garden. My eyes staring into the sky, though they drifted down as my mind wandered on all the things that had happened to me recently. They eventually fell on to the garden itself something I'd never taken much notice of before. When I did my scout of the manor before the ball I didn't even think about the garden it was so vast I just promised myself to never go in there. Only now did my eyes land on something I was surprised to see, they had a huge hedge labyrinth in their back garden. How had I not seen this before? It'd be easy to get lost in that place then just climb over bushes and I'd be home free. My scheming eyes turned to the doorway of my room as I wondered who was going to be on guard duty tonight. I hoped it wasn't Sansin and that it was some other elf I'd grown quite attached to the little female house elf, although if it meant coming between me and my life I'd happily take her out. I slipped over to the door a quietly opened it just a crack to see if I could see anything I couldn't which was strange Sansin would normally always be there. I pulled the door open wide to find that I couldn't see her at all I frowned stepping into the room.

"Something you need Miss. Potter?" Her squeaky voice made me jump I looked around to see Sansin stood in a shadowy corner to my right.

"Uh, yeah I'm parched I don't suppose you could go grab me a glass of water?" I asked Sansin smiled and nodded. I expected her to start walking towards the door but instead I heard a small pop and she had disappeared. I frowned at the spot she left before glancing up at the door, I had no idea how long she'd be so I took my chance. I ran at the door with all my might prying it open, a little shocked that it did, just as I tumbled out of the door and round the corner I heard a little pop back in the room. She didn't have time to say anything though as now my feet had found the wooden stairs and were pattering down them. I'm sure I could hear some stirring from a room down the hall but I dismissed the thoughts Sansin had barely had time to leave the room let alone warn any body. I hit the entrance hall and my eyes looked at the front doors I smirked at them knowing that is just what they'd expect as I doubled back on myself and rushed through the pool area. My hands found the handles to the patio doors just as I heard someone descending the stairs. I pried the doors open and the burst of fresh air felt wonderful, though I couldn't help but wonder why these doors weren't locked. As my bare feet found the cold hard ground of the patio and I rushed down some more stairs my lack of knowledge of the garden got the better of me. From my bedroom the maze didn't look like it was more than four feet away from the patio but that was from a much higher point. The sound of the patio doors opening threw me back into action though as I rushed toward the closest hedge I could see. It was dumb luck that got me to the front of the hedge maze, I pulled around a corner before tripping and falling into the entrance of it. I grinned when I saw it running inside and turning left at the first chance I got I paused round the corner though and let my eyes fall behind me for the first time. I held my breath as I listened for whoever it was that was following me I prayed they hadn't seen me duck into the maze. I was not so lucky through the bushes I could see blonde hair approaching I didn't wait around to see which of the Malfoy's it was before running down the turning I'd found. I took at least three more turns putting them between myself and which ever Malfoy it was following me but they were adamant seeming to work out each trail I took. They tailed me like they had some kind of training and before I knew it I hadn't been focusing on where I was looking and ended up at a long path that lead to a dead end. I had no other choice, I couldn't go back now the person following me was just around the corner at the other end of this path. I glanced behind me they still hadn't rounded it yet but it wouldn't take long. My fingers slipped into the tough hedge's side with little difficulty and I took a generous grip of it the pain of the twigs digging into my fingers seeming minimal compared to the chance of escape. Just as my other hand got grip higher up and I managed to pull my feet off the ground I heard it.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you Potter..." Draco's voice called out to me, my eyes glared back at him half expecting him to be holding up his wand. He was still wearing his pyjamas, a fact that made me notice I also was in my small silk shorts and vest even though there was snow on the ground. He wasn't holding up his wand it wasn't a threat that made me pull back from the bush and allow my feet to fall back on the ground. It was what he was wearing besides his own silk pyjamas Draco also had a thick green dressing gown pulled around him, the one I brought him. It took all the strength I had not to smile at his attire but then I remembered what was happening.

"Why not? You don't have your wand? You're not going to hurt me and I can climb to the top before you reach me.. What's stopping me?" I hissed he had stopped near to the end of the fairly long pathway we were stood down. There was at least six feet between us and even with his long legs I was smaller and quicker than him.

"It's just not a wise move, you really want your parents killed? To be hunted your entire life? Where were you planning on going? Anyone you're close to would tell the Dark Lord as soon as look at you.." He warned I just glared to him, admittedly I hadn't thought of the effect this would have on my parents but that was their problem not my own. I had to save my own skin first, it's just the way I've always lived.

"Harry wouldn't in fact he'd probably thank me for telling him all about You-Know-Who's plans!" I spat back to him Draco just smirked at me.

"Right before his God father kills you for betraying them in the first place.." Draco said I turned my head away from him now I still had my body facing the hedge with my fingers gripped to it just in case he tried anything. I had no idea if Sirius was cruel enough to out right murder me but I was sure Harry would save me. Right? I got angry that Draco had out smarted me I glared back over my shoulder at him.

"What's it got to do with you anyway!? How did you even know I was out here? Shouldn't Sansin have gone straight to your father?!" I hissed back at him he seemed to search my face for some answer before he spoke.

"My parents seem to have this deluded new trust in you, since you were put into Slytherin they think that you're 'one of us' born to be bad..." He explained. "I got Sansin to help me set up a spell to trigger an alarm straight to my room if you ever stepped outside of that first bedroom. I set it up last night and tonight, why else do you think Sansin apparated from your room to fetch your water?" He questioned my hands dropped from the hedge now as I turned my body half towards him.

"As soon as I heard the alarm I told Sansin not to tell my parents yet, that I would be able to talk you down..." He explained my brow pulled into an angry frown.

"So you didn't trust me?" I hissed at him.

"It's not that I don't trust you I just _know_ you-"

"Your _parents_ trust me more than you do! Argh!" I cut him off screaming at him as I suddenly picked up a ball of snow off the floor and threw it at him. He didn't react just letting the snow hit his chest and fall to the floor.

"I can't _believe_ you! Why does all this even matter to you!? Just go back to your _girlfriend_ and pretend you were none the wiser!" I spat at him my hands finding their way back to the hedge as I climbed up it.

"You know I can't do that.. Is that what all this is about? Because of me and Parkinson?! There are other ways of getting my attention you know Potter, you don't need to break out just to get me interested..." He smirked I screamed out no real words, it was all I could do not to turn around and beat the smirk right off his face. I shot a glare back over my shoulder.

"I do not want your attention now and _never _will want it again don't you worry about that! I also do not and will _never_ want to have this conversation with you Malfoy! So just leave because whether you like it or not I am crossing this hedge!" I growled at him as I started up the hedge I was surprised to find that he didn't approach me or try to stop me he just leant against the hedge with his arms crossed.

"Don't say I didn't warn you Potter.." He smirked I didn't listen to his words though as I continued up the hedge cutting various fingers and toes. Just as I reached the top a smile came to my face I put my arms atop the hedge and pulled my head up. As my chin hit the fine cut top of the hedge however I felt a strange pulse from the bush and suddenly an invisible force smacked me off the hedge side throwing me backwards into the hedge at the other end of the pathway. I screamed as I flew through the air landing with a loud thump on my behind. I winced as I rubbed the sore spot the cool snow actually helping with the throbbing.

"It's designed to stop people from cheating..." Draco smugly informed me from beside me I glared up at him and, with much pain, pushed myself up from the floor.

"Screw you Malfoy!" I hissed at him before turning my back on him and storming away. He followed though making sure I got back to the mansion.

"You must be cold Potter take my gown.." He said from behind me as we found out way out of the maze.

"I don't want anything from you." I spat back I could hear his smirk even though I wasn't looking at him.

"Well you brought it for me so technically..." He said I just huffed at him again still ignoring the gown he had held out to me.

"Leave me alone." I hissed crossing my arms and moving towards the mansion.

"I can't do that, besides after hearing what you've done tonight I doubt my father will be allowing you to go anywhere alone..." I just scoffed at his words.

"Oh so you're really going to tell your parents that you went behind their backs and set up spell traps to catch me out _and_ when I did break out told the elf that was on guard duty not to tell them I'd gone?" I asked finally I glanced back at him to see his smirk fall. "That's what I thought..." I hissed as we got to the top of the stairs. "Good night Malfoy."

"Wait Potter, we really should talk.." I didn't even stop as he spoke walking straight into my room and closing the door behind me.

Another two days flew by without me speaking to Draco any time he tried to speak to me, either in my room or out of it I'd just ignore him or lock myself in the bathroom. Luckily every time he tried to talk to me either Pansy or one of our parents would save me from it. He didn't tell anyone about my daring escape attempt though I wasn't sure if that was just to save his own skin. I found out that morning that Pansy and her parents were leaving I only found out because as I finished breakfast and rushed straight back to my room I heard them all saying goodbye at the doorway. Later that evening I heard some noise coming from the first bedroom as I sat in front of my window using the moonlight to read a book on Charms. I didn't pay too much attention to the noise I'd come to not really care much about the things that were happening in the Malfoy manor. I figured that if I got nothing else good from this Christmas break at least I'd be able to go back to school and shock Snape with all that I know. After the week of him and McGonagall teaching me had passed he suggested I still get an extra training session at least once a week so I did that with him. Though I was sure he only did that so he could keep tabs on my plan. There was a loud bang from the other room that actually dragged my attention away from my book and up to the doorway. I heard a discussion happen between Sansin and a male voice then the door to my room opened. Draco stood in the doorway my eyes moved from his face to the room behind him to see that his stuff had been moved back into it. The loud bang had been his trunk being moved around and from the fact that Sansin was nowhere to be seen I guessed the discussion they had was Draco relieving her.

"Potter.." He said as he closed the door turning to it and twisting the lock. "No interruptions.." He said my eyes moved to the bathroom door unfortunately he caught this and crossed over to it. He stood between both doors with his eyes on me. I just dismissively looked back down to my book planning to ignore him though that didn't seem to bother him.

"Potter I understand you're mad but you see this is a tough situation. Parkinson's parents and my own kind of force us together for the sake that they like each other. Parkinson's parents know that being my parents friends is going to get them places and my parents... They enjoy feeling better than them I guess" He sighed. "My mother has always liked the fact that I have found a Slytherin girl whose parents are also on the Dark Lords good list. Mine and Parkinson's relationship had always pleased my mother and even when we're not together sometimes we will still pretend like we are for our parents' sake.." He explained himself I just continued to look at my book though in all honesty I hadn't read a word since he entered the room.

"Potter I am just as stubborn as you are I will stay here for as long as it takes.." He growled moving towards me now. He sat himself down on the side of the bed closest to me I just kept me eyes on the book.

"I can tell you aren't reading.." He grumbled I rolled my eyes only for him to slip the book out from my grasp I looked at him allowing a defeated sigh to leave my mouth.

"I'm fine with it, Malfoy.. I understand... Just leave." I said defiantly staring at him he just smirked at me shaking his head.

"I'm not sure you do understand Potter, you've never had to deal with overwhelming parents..." I just threw him a glare that told him to watch his words. "Alright well, if you understand that then what about this..." He moved to his knees closing the gap between us now as he swung one leg over the top of mine pinning me against the window. He sat in my lap now facing me I just raised an eye brow.

"My parents think I'm up here getting settled into that room again, my mother thinks I'm happily dating Parkinson..." He whispered moving his face close to mine. "Imagine how hot it would be for me to fuck you on this bed with my parents being down there none the wiser..." He smirked my anger came from nowhere going from nothing to boiling over in a matter of seconds. Before I knew what I was doing my hand came flying towards his face and collided with his cheek in one of the hardest slaps I've ever given. I screamed out pushing him off of me and standing up as he reeled from the slap.

"You know what Malfoy?! You say that Theodore is such a bad guy cause he hurts women well he is a damn shade better than you Draco Malfoy! At least he actually gives a crap!" I hissed at him I was shocked to find him look back at me with a smirk across his bright red cheek.

"I knew you weren't fine with it.." He smugly spoke I just screamed out once more before rushing into the bathroom and locking myself back in there.


End file.
